How To Service Your Road Bike's Headset | GCN Tech Monday Maintenance

When your road bike's steering becomes gritty, it's likely time to service your headset bearings. It's a relatively simple job so, in this video, Alex shows you how to perform a basic service to breathe some life into your worn out headset bearings.

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#Cycling #GCN #GCNTech #RoadBike

Have you ever serviced your road bike's headset? Let us know in the comments below!

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Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound:
Hip Hop - Bed 5

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[jameswitte]

In this instance rim brake beats disc brake.

[ianlaker]

Just done mine which had become notchy. Effectively the same set up as here. The last time I serviced a headset was on one of my old bikes. They were so much easier! And they had races and bearings that just looked better quality, albeit with heavier steel. Despite the awkardness of wrestlng with the cable routing, I seem to have done a decent job and it's much smoother with plenty of fresh grease (there didn't appear to be any when I took it apart!). Good video.

[mivoe]

Thank you very much. This probably helped me resolve the annoying sqeaks in my headset.

[Drzhounder]

I’m sorry but this isn’t about ‘servicing’ your headset. This is how to clean and degrease you stem and sealed bearings. Age of a bearing has no bearing on its condition. Describe how the bearing feels. Is it smooth or a bit gritty? Does it flow and spin like butter? If it’s not smooth, if it has a crunchy or gritty feel, they are shot. Replace them. If you have an older bike with anything other than modern sealed bearings, recommend taking it to the LBS for repair, and at least show images of other types of headsets. Point out the differences between tapered and straight headsets. Make sure you point out the direction the bearings need to go on. This is not a good video on this type of maintenance. Sorry but I have to call them as I see them.

[Josu._.-]

I will get my bike on April...I am watching atleast 10 gcn videos per day just to make me aware about cycling0

[martind]

I'm a bit confused. I thought this was a video about servicing headset bearings. Doesn't that first involve removing the bearings and then removing the seals so that the bearing can be cleaned out and regreased before putting it all back together again. All GCN have done here is drop the fork tube and given it a bit of a clean, or am I missing something?

[framedman]

You guys need to set up timing segments for this, so we can skip to the parts we need without having to watch the bits we don't.

[duduyoyo]

Magnifique! Many thanks for this help. Hope more videos of maintenance will come.

[davidfazakerley]

HI Alex you talked about removing front brake hose to replace bottom bearing will there be a video on this my Orbea gain bottom bearing could require changing.

[kevinswedlow]

It might be worth considering the range of bikes viewers own for these maintenance demos videos. So many of these videos are well done and enjoyable, but always represent elite level bikes and components. I suspect more riders own bikes with traditional non-integrated cockpits and mechanical gears. Many of us actually don’t even ride a carbon frame 🥸

[JS-tbhu]

7:16 6nm seems pretty tight for a preload. I usually find my bikes don't take much preload. What about everyone else?

[Londoncycleroutes]

This is extremely well explained, thank you - though I can't say I'm looking forward to doing it myself!

[DougMorley]

I suppose that if you can afford an expensive bike like the one used here, you afford to pay for others to do jobs like this, especially if headset bearings need to be replaced.

[IanB]

Even though they look good if ever there was an advert for a bike without integrated cables this is it. What a faff just to get at the bearings.

[bikeman]

Im not sure greasing the outside of the bearings is a good idea. It doesnt prevent water getting in and just seems to attract dirt.

[faydijkstra]

#askgcntech Hi Alex and Ollie. Im wondering if you can help me solve a disc brake problem. Since the last time i cleaned my bike the brakes squeal. I already used discbrake cleaner + light sandpaper on the pads. None of it seems to work, do you have any more tips?

[dickieblench]

Literally no one is loving disc brakes at this point

[tommyphillips]

#AskGCNTech after my rides lately while cleaning (as I do this after every ride) I have noticed that there is more black brake dust on my rims than before. Is this a sign that I may need to think about replacing the brake pads? Thanks a lot.

[mattkavanaugh]

Alex, watch some of Doddy’s tech videos at GMBN...

[lasselyhne-hansen]

I have an aluminium frame and a carbon fork. Should I use any particular grease for that?