strange bearings came out of my headset

[maximus123]

Hello,

I decided to overhaul my pinarello's headset and out popped these...



My instinct was that these looked like junk but I wanted to double check. Is anyone familiar with this sort of bearing system? Should I change them out for some better ones?

Thanks

 

[Robbied196]

Needle roller bearings, they are used in quite a few headsets like some of the Stronglights. If they are worn I'd replace with the same type

 

[hamster]

Not junk, as stated above. Roller bearings have better load carrying so last longer and don't brinnel the races like ball bearings.

 

[mattr]

My instinct was that these looked like junk

I'd get a new instinct, that one is broken.

Is anyone familiar with this sort of bearing system? Should I change them out for some better ones?

Anyone with any sort of engineering background should be familiar with needle rollers. And technically you'll struggle to find "better" bearings for a headset. Only problem with them are a) expensive to make right b) not very tolerant to dirt (a spherical bearing will tend to squish dirt out of the way, these ones tend to roll over it........)

If it was still working ok, and is cleanable (can't tell from the picture) i'd clean it up pop it back together with a squirt of fresh grease and leave it.

I had a similar (stronglight) headset in an MTB for several years, not a single problem with it. Unfortunately i was swayed by new shiny bits and got a greaseguard headset. (which has done 13 or 14 years service, with just one set of replacement bearings about 8 or 9 years ago.......)

 

[maximus123]

Re:

Excellent, thanks for the replies. Will need to replace them with newer ones if possible as a few of the individual bearings have gone missing.

 

[mattr]

Ah. Good luck finding replacements!

 

[maximus123]

Re:

Turns out my LBS has them which is fortunate. Thanks again everyone.

 

[jon w]

Needle roller as stated above.

Things to check are the state of the races, These should be very clean and smooth. Check for lines where the rollers have dug in, and the state of the rollers. These again should be very smooth and polished. Check for scratches and chips.

TBH if the bike hasn't been abused the bearings should be ok.