Help With Bearings On 80s Bike

[JWC86]

Well its actually a scooter...

We have this Norco "curb blaster" scooter that has been in my wife's family since the late 80s I believe. I noticed the steering was a bit "notchy" so I pulled it apart for inspection as i would really like to fix it.

I'm not a bicycle guy so please excuse me if my terminaolgys are incorrect as I'm sure they are.
The races on the lower stem, top and bottom of the headstock look great:

However the race on the top threaded "ring" are chewed up pretty bad:

Just for reference here it is assembled:

It threads onto these threads to tension the bearings and held in place with a lock nut, here it is unscrewed:

The bearings themselves seemed ok visually but there was lots of metallic matter in the grease when I cleaned them so they are probably shot.

Ideally I would purchase a new top ring thing that has the race built into it and new bearings, grease them up well and call it a day but I'm guessing thats not something that is available? I really have no idea and my searching isn't going well but I have not idea how to search this stuff.

Really hoping someone here knows something about this stuff and can help!
The races all seem to be pressed in and I'm sure I can swap them easy enough, I've done it on motorcycles a handful of times however the top ring is the only race that actually looks bad and I'm guessing that will be the hard part?

I do have a lathe, although its not a good one, its clapped out and not worth fixing but I can do some machining with it. I don't think I could cut new races but perhaps I could just machine off the race from the nut and then have a "floating" race under it?

If anyone has any ideas at all please share.

 

[JWC86]

Here's a few pics for some more reference:

ID of the headstock races:

ID of the headstock tube itself:

In hindsight I realize I should have measured the thread size and pitch of the ring with the damaged race...

 

[Cujet]

If there is a large bicycle repair shop near you, you could ask them.

Otherwise try to find similarly sized parts online. There are all sorts of aftermarket stem bearings. I purchased some Chris King NoThread headset bearings for my cyclocross bike. While they many not work for you, it may spark some ideas. https://chrisking.com/collections/nothreadset

It may be that a conventional threaded headset replacement would work. It might be a different configuration.

 

[MRC01]

It looks like one of several standard bicycle headset sizes. If so, you will be able to find replacement bearings & cups for that fork tube. Here's a guide for standard sizing.

The ultimate guide to headsets

Everything you need to know about this key bike component

www.bikeradar.com

 

[JWC86]

It looks like one of several standard bicycle headset sizes. If so, you will be able to find replacement bearings & cups for that fork tube. Here's a guide for standard sizing.

The ultimate guide to headsets

Everything you need to know about this key bike component

www.bikeradar.com

If there is a large bicycle repair shop near you, you could ask them.

Otherwise try to find similarly sized parts online. There are all sorts of aftermarket stem bearings. I purchased some Chris King NoThread headset bearings for my cyclocross bike. While they many not work for you, it may spark some ideas. https://chrisking.com/collections/nothreadset

It may be that a conventional threaded headset replacement would work. It might be a different configuration.

Thank you both very much, your info helped a bunch! The terminology I needed was "headset", it looks like I just need a 1" threaded headset bearing kit.

 

[AZjeff]

@Cujet , a Chris King headset would be a bit of overkill don't you think?

@JWC86, you don't need to machine new parts unless you want the challenge, those are going to be off the shelf parts you can get at any decent bike shop and shouldn't be expensive. Take the old parts in and match them up, they might have the top threaded race alone but a whole new headset would be best.

Here is the threaded headset page from a good online source: https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/index.php?category=2688

Tange is a good quality Japanese headset. Also bikes deal in metric mostly. A normal steel headtube ID size from that era is 30mm, you measured 1.1865" or 30.14mm. What is the diameter of the stem that inserts into the headset?

Universal also lists a headset with 30.2mm cups so your ID measurement is in between. Might want to knock the races out of the frame and measure them. https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=48119

MRC01 posted that good link while I was typing.

Pic of the scooter needed.

 

[JWC86]

@Cujet , a Chris King headset would be a bit of overkill don't you think?

@JWC86, you don't need to machine new parts unless you want the challenge, those are going to be off the shelf parts you can get at any decent bike shop and shouldn't be expensive. Take the old parts in and match them up, they might have the top threaded race alone but a whole new headset would be best.

Here is the threaded headset page from a good online source: https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/index.php?category=2688

Tange is a good quality Japanese headset. Also bikes deal in metric mostly. A normal steel headtube ID size from that era is 30mm, you measured 1.1865" or 30.14mm. What is the diameter of the stem that inserts into the headset?

Universal also lists a headset with 30.2mm cups so your ID measurement is in between. Might want to knock the races out of the frame and measure them. https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=48119

Thank you! Very Helpful. I will have to measure the the stem and get something ordered up.

 

[vavavroom]

You can easily install a new bottom race with a homemade tool made from PVC tubing, a PVC cap, and using a mallet. My LBS wanted $40 for pressing on a new race. I laughed at him when he showed me his special tool that looked like something NASA might use. I was still laughing when I was leaving the shop.

To get the old press-fitted race off, hammer a knife blade between the race and the seat around the perimeter until the race comes off the tapered tube.

 

[AZjeff]

To get the old press-fitted race off, hammer a knife blade between the race and the seat around the perimeter until the race comes off the tapered tube.

Can't quite picture this, sounds like a good way to chip paint off of the frame. Before I got the NASA grade bike tools I just used a long straight blade screwdriver reaching through the headtube and tapping around and around on the ridge of the bearing cup easing it out. A long enough piece of 3/8" round steel rod with a nice crisp edge works well too.

The PVC tool is genius.

Replaces this:

And the official bearing cup removal tool:

 

[vavavroom]

Can't quite picture this, sounds like a good way to chip paint off of the frame. Before I got the NASA grade bike tools I just used a long straight blade screwdriver reaching through the headtube and tapping around and around on the ridge of the bearing cup easing it out. A long enough piece of 3/8" round steel rod with a nice crisp edge works well too.

The PVC tool is genius.

Replaces this:
View attachment 185916
And the official bearing cup removal tool:
View attachment 185918

Yup, those are the NASA tools. A thin and sharp blade won't chip the paint off any visible painted part because it gets wedged between the bearing cup and the cup seat. If the seat gets scratched it's not visible and you can touch it up.before tapping the new bearing cup in place. I should have written 'bearing cup' in my previous post.

 

[853okg]

The bottom race takes the brunt of the wear. You could remove the bottom cup and crown race and rotate them ninety degrees to smooth the unit out. Replace the retainers with loose balls.
If you choose to replace the entire headset you’ll need to measure the stack height and crown race diameter. It will either be 26.4mm or 27 mm. A Tange Levin headset would be a good choice.
Alternatively, you could just clean everything and replace the bearings and use really good grease and button it up and see how it feels.
You can improvise tools by using a large adjustable wrench for the crown race and a long bolt and washers for a cup press.
When building a really nice bike it’s pretty important to get the head tube reamed and faced and use the proper tools for installing the cups and crown race, but for this scooter you can certainly make do with what you have.

 

[JWC86]

The bottom race takes the brunt of the wear. You could remove the bottom cup and crown race and rotate them ninety degrees to smooth the unit out. Replace the retainers with loose balls.
If you choose to replace the entire headset you’ll need to measure the stack height and crown race diameter. It will either be 26.4mm or 27 mm. A Tange Levin headset would be a good choice.
Alternatively, you could just clean everything and replace the bearings and use really good grease and button it up and see how it feels.
You can improvise tools by using a large adjustable wrench for the crown race and a long bolt and washers for a cup press.
When building a really nice bike it’s pretty important to get the head tube reamed and faced and use the proper tools for installing the cups and crown race, but for this scooter you can certainly make do with what you have.

It appears that most if not all of the notchy feeling is coming from the wear on the top race that is built into the adjusting collar would you not agree from the pictures?

 

[853okg]

Yes, the adjustable cup is pretty severely pitted. Nothing you can do about that except replace it. This looks like an old Wald headset. They were very inexpensive, but threaded headsets are so hard to find nowadays and I can’t believe the prices. Another option is to just replace the upper half of the headset if you can find the parts. Some old time shop, or bike and mower place might have some compatible parts for just a couple of bucks. It’s worth looking around.

 

[AZjeff]

@JWC86 , is the objective to fix it as cheaply as possible or to make it as good or better than new with decent parts?

 

[JWC86]

@JWC86 , is the objective to fix it as cheaply as possible or to make it as good or better than new with decent parts?

Objective is to fix it as good or better than it was before for a reasonable amount of money and I would like to keep the look close to original.

I'm greatful for the information everyone has provided as it's been a great help.

I've ordered a new headset that should work, I'll update when it arrives.

 

[AZjeff]

It ain't rocket surgery!

 

[CR94]

It ain't rocket surgery!

Yes, but confusing because there are several "standard" fork crown race diameters for conventional 1" nominal quill-stem forks, depending on vintage, nationality, price, etc.

 

[ET16]

A bike co-op near you might be the best bet.

 

[Brons2]

I've ordered a new headset that should work, I'll update when it arrives.

Best bet, that oe headset looks pretty low end. A Tange is a nice one that you'll never have to take apart again, and they're semi reasonably priced.

*of course a while back you could buy a quality Japanese headset for threaded quill applications for less than $20, those were the days.