I’m in the process of servicing my Fox TALAS (I’ve ridden them for nearly 2 hours so figured they were due 😀 )

My headset is an FSA Orbit Xtreme

and looking that the bearings on my headset they are a bit corroded/rusty but still smooth, but I’ve noticed that sitting the bearings on the crown race there is quite a gap under the bearings and not a lot to keep muck out, did I miss something when originally fitting them?

Looks cracked to me. You should get a new one. Also, green, blue and pink is a bad colour scheme.

That’s just slight discolouration, not even deep corrosion. Grease, fit and forget.

globalti – Member

That’s just slight discolouration, not even deep corrosion. Grease, fit and forget.

Cheers for the tip, I was more worried about the gap between the bottom of the bearing and the surface of the crown race?

Its almost like the bearing inner is too small to fit on the tapered bit of the crown race.
Bone dry there too, either your bike never see’s mud or water or you need to grease that up a bit more on reassembly.

does seem a bit big but never really looked at the bearing on the crown race not on the bike so not sure.

Are both bearings the same? Maybe you have the top one on the bottom and vice versa?

I must say it does look like it’s sitting high. Is it deffo the right crownrace? Should be a split one if it’s FSA IIRC.

How do they look on the bike with the stem cap bolt tightened up?

Incorrect crown race?

I’m pretty sure not all fsa races are the same.

Or is it one of the split races fitted- there may be a gap until the headset is preloaded properly.

Thanks for the info, I’d not thought of checking the two bearings (top and bottom) in case I’ve got them the wrong way. Also it’s not a split race so I might have been supplied with the wrong one?

Don’t take my word on that, though I thought FSA were split.

I once had a bearing like that with a crown race. I stuck a rubber O ring in the gap to keep mud out. It did a good job it was clean the next time I took the front end off. If its been working before like that then maybe just leave it or stump up and buy a better sealed headset. Too many headsets are badly designed for MTB riding with regard to sealing on the bottom race area.

Not all FSA headsets had the split crown though, the Orbit XL ones used to be a lottery if you got a split crown or a standard none cut one. Not sure if they all come now with split crowns as I have not bought one for a bit. I use Raceface Deus ones now which I find very good.

Wrong angle of Angular Contact Bearing (ACB) for crown race?

Looks like the internal face of the bearing could be too shallow for the crown race. By eye* – that crown race looks like it’s 45 deg. See if the bearing is too**?
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* I could be completely wrong.
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** There should be some markings on the side of the bearing saying ‘ACB’, with some numbers for angles.. 🙂

Should be a split one if it’s FSA IIRC.

Think they’ve stopped doing them. Nothing a hacksaw won’t rectify, of course.

Top and bottom bearings are the same (7mm) the lower plastic seal is missing.

Odd?

My FSA headset looks the same, I thought it was a bit odd too, but thats how it came from the Giant factory 😕

It looks like the correct race to me, I’ve had 2 of the FSA orbit z something headsets (one of the internal ones) and it was just like that.

When everything is tightened up it will move down a little on the lower crown race, also the bearing sits inside the cup in the frame a bit further reducing the area for ingress of crap. While the design is not perfect and there is a gap i didn’t have any real problem with the bearings in my headset, i got a few years use out of the first one and as it was cheep replaced like for like second time round.

Hope use a labyrinth ?spelling? seal on there integrated headsets which i think is a better design but for the price the FSA one is pretty decent.

When putting it all back together i put a ring of grease in the bearing cup, stuck in the bearing then did another ring of grease round the inner (for lower crown race)and outer edges.

If the bearings still feel smooth they are fine.

Seth’s idea of a o-ring sounds good if you can find one the correct size.

well, sounds like it should look like that then, thanks again for all responses.

I do like the STW collective 😀

sorry to be the voice of dissent but I though top and bottom bearings should be different in FSA headsets? Not used an extreme but have a few Orbit XLii on bikes and they fit a lot better than that

as nbt says my fsa’s all sat down on the race flush (ish) looks like an incorrect fit to me.

I’m with NBT – the bearings are the wrong way round or you its not the crown race you’ve put on. I had exactly the same on my FSA headset until I figured it out. Also what I thought was the ‘split crown race’ wasn’t – it went in above the top headset bearings to presumably provide downward force on everything when the bolt through the SFN was tightened. Apologies for the vagueness – I haven’t got a clue what these things are actually called…

Nah top and bottom are the same on them.
The crownrace is one piece

Bearings aren’t the wrong way round on mine, its either design, or wrong race fitted in the factory.