Will constant skills practice kill my headset

I've been riding mine fairly ineptly for years and it's been fine

If you do just buy a new one

no, never heard of those things putting undue stress on hubs or headsets.

kill my headset or front hub

no

Wear out the bearings within slightly faster than if you left it in the shed and sat on the sofa for an extra hour a day, probably. Enough to justify a separate bike, even a spares bin/second hand one? again probably no.

And surely you want to learn how to wheelie/manual on your nice bike?

This is why adults can't wheelie as good as kids! You need to learn before you even know or care what a headset is.

No

My boys used to go a local kids "Go Ride" club a few years back and the older 1 (about 9 at the time) would spend the whole evening just quietly practicing his wheelies whilst waiting around. 1 of the coaches came over and advised him not to as "The top of the fork might explode and hit him in the face with bits". We nodded in acceptance and walked away slowly....

Nope. I clown around constantly and I've never had a headset fail.

If you could damage your headset with impacts, that would happen with repeatedly smashing down rock-strewn trails. But that doesn't happen either - headsets gets nailed by mud, rain and rust etc.

Thanks all, a classic case of Singletrack-Overthink-World I guess.

Looking back, when I was learning all this stuff in the 90's my biggest problem was headtubes detaching themselves from the rest of the bike. I was a wannabe trials rider who liked big drops but like everyone else, I only had access to small XC frames.

I left a trail of decapitated Marin's, Kona's and GT's in my wake. Then I realised girls aren't really impressed by idiots dropping off bus shelters on bikes and I got a driving licence.

I don't think I can even wheelie anymore.

I would be more concerned about damage to joints, nerves, tendons etc,. that anything on the bike.

It will kill the head bearings in a motorbike, but they're not that much bigger than bike headsets (they still use 1" headtubes) and weigh 200kg.

I would be more concerned about damage to joints, nerves, tendons etc,. that anything on the bike.

Oh yeah I'm well on my way. Hands a blistered from a combination of death-grip and the bars crashing back down, shins are shredded from all the pedal slips.

As long as the bike's okay though...

You can also expect Tennis/Golfers Elbow and sore thumbs :o(

#askmehowiknow

But my bike (26" Cotic BFE with rigid forks) is happily taking all the punishment without so much as a wimper (unlike me!)

No but sometimes trials riders snap their handle bars. Are you doing huuuuge gaps to front?

No but sometimes trials riders snap their handle bars. Are you doing huuuuge gaps to front?

The biggest gap I do is walking to the garage to get the bike out.

It will kill the head bearings in a motorbike,

You know in the 20years I raced MX and Enduro I never once destroyed a headstock bearing.
From memory the bearing were pretty big too.
Definitely bigger than 1". Think they were at least 2" tall as well.
I've seen headstocks ripped off after coming up short on big jumps but never bearings damaged from something as minor as wheelies.

headsets gets nailed by mud, rain and rust etc.

Exactly.
Think how much force goes into a headset doing a stoppie turn or pushing into a root/rock to preload for a jump.
Then compare that to the wheel dropping from a few feet without much weight on it.

Probably not, but it will depend on how gracefully you land.

No, the bike will be fine. What’s the point of building up a 26er when you might as well just learn on the bike you’ll be riding anyway.

Headset it steel on steel under compression, and will be going nowhere.
Its much more likely that you would ovalize the aluminum of the frame under repeated load.
Is this a serious concern? Also no.