Hi All,

Looking for some advice with a daft mechanical question!

My headset has been creaking badly. I have adjusted the tension in the headset bolt (loosening the stem bolts the retightening). This takes away the creaks but they come back pretty quick after riding. I guess this means I need to replace the headset. Problem is the local shop can’t get this done until next week and had a big 40 mile ride scheduled for this Saturday in the Cairngorms.

Its a remote ride so do not want to have a major mechanical or anything.

Is it worth me trying to service the headset without a headset press? How would the headset fail if it did anyway – would it be unrideable?

Thanks in advance for responding to my naivety!

cheers

Its a pretty

If you don’t know what you are doing then no. You could make it worse.

You might be able to simply drop in new bearings so there would be no need for a press – this depends on the type of headset. Easiest way to do this would be to buy the identical headset and just replace the moving bits. Otherwise you would need to know what the bearings were and buy the right ones.

It isn’t a difficult job to do a headset with the right equipment. Maybe ask some biking friends if they can help or give a clue to your location as someone on here might have the right knowledge.

What type of headset is it?

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/threadless-headset-service#article-section-8