-
Cheers!
It took a fair bit of research to figure out exactly what I needed for the headset so hopefully this is helpful:
Pic shows the bits I removed from the original set up. The left two items show the caged bearings plus the additional 'race' I referred to (my terminology might be off there) from the bottom of the headset. The bottom right is the two identical pieces from the top of the headset, but nested together, as they sit in the headset. I also swapped out the conical 20mm spacer in the top right for a low stack one.
In terms of the bits you need to reassemble with new sealed bearings, from bottom to top:
- Crown race on fork (I reused existing one)
- A 1 1/8th sealed bearing (30.2x41x6.5 36x45 degree). I bought a pair from Superstar Components: https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/type-1-headset-bearings-36x45-degree-cane-creek-compatible-x2.htm. This sits directly in the machined headtube (my Tricross didn't have any pressed in cups as some info I found online suggested it might).
- Headtube
- The second sealed bearing.
- A 2mm 1 1/8th (28.6mm internal dia) headset spacer (bought from eBay for a couple of quid), this is important as the machined recess in the frame is deep and this spacer needs to sit on top of the upper bearing to give the top cover something to sit on and not bind with the top of the headtube.
- A replacement low stack top cover for the conical one pictured above (you could reuse the existing conical one, I only replaced it as I wanted to lower the stem). I bought a 45mm dia, 2mm depth one from gbj_testers shop: https://www.grafixbyjorj.co.uk/.
- Stem or spacers then stem.
All in cost was about £20 and in the future I'll only need to replace the sealed bearings.
Caveat that this worked for my Tricross (2014 Sport) and most other early/mid 2010's 1 1/8th Specialized Mindset headsets should be similar but I can't be 100% sure..
- Crown race on fork (I reused existing one)
You are reading a single comment by @tmevans and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
zigbit
@tmevans
hi, great thread! i have an old specialised the same vintage as your tricross and wondered about your headset. i would like to get rid of the lower loose ball bearings on mine too. I read you removed an additional race on the lower part of the headset, and i can’t imagine what you mean plus don’t recall this from my last bearing service. do you mean an extra crown race sitting on top of the crown race sitting on the fork? any idea of the specs of the cartridge bearings you replaced with?