Any tips on how to get bearings out of the headset cups without knackering the cups? They are supposed to magically pop out but mine are wedged in tight.

Mine became a touch corroded and stuck in a Hope headset….after spraying with releasing solution IE plusgas, I twatted them with a hammer and a drift from the opposite end of the head tube……if it’s a case that your forks are still within the headset I’d remove them first then use my described technique.

Thanks suggsey. Am a bit concerned about catching the cups when trying to drift them out as its hard to see whether the drift is up against the bearing or the cup. I’ll cross my fingers and give it some humpty. Where do you buy your replacement hope bearings from?

I recently had exactly the same problem. A spray of plus gas and gentle tapping from above got them out.

Hot (boiling) water (assuming alu cups).

I know when I fitted a Hope headset in the upper bearings became very tight in the cup, where prior to fitting the cup into the headtube they easily pushed in and out. I presumed (possibly incorrectly) that the tolerances where so tight, that fitting the cup into the frame squeezed the cup just enough to make the bear fit tight. If this is the case then maybe removing the cup may help things.

It’s rust. The bearing gets welded into the cups by oxidation of the steel bearing and the alloy cup; metal oxides take up more space than the metals so things get stuck, as anybody knows who’s had a stuck seatpost.

Had this recently with my buddy’s badly neglected Tarmac SL4. The steerer refused to drop out of the frame so I helped it with a mallet and when it came out it brought the inner race of the bottom bearing with it, leaving the outer race with the balls still welded into the frame by oxidation. It took a few minutes of careful tapping from above to remove that. I cleaned everything up and smeared it all with lanoline before fitting the new bearing so it will be OK now no matter how badly he neglects it.

Well they shouldn’t really pop out that easy. There needs to be a tight fit between outer and the cup. If they were loose you’d get all kinds of problems.

You can get rusting going on, though if they were fitted tight the rust will mainly be on the edges facing you. I only see rust with poor seals and excessive washing.

The proper way is to use a bearing extractor. The normal way is to hammer away from the other side with a flat bladded screwdriver / drift /etc 😉 , going carefully but forcefully around the bearing to walk it out. If the bearing is getting replaced, don’t worry about damaging the bearing.

New bearings in, use a smear of grease on the outer surface.

Assuming we’re talking cartridge bearings though.

Bearings – http://simplybearings.co.uk/