Morning All

The bearings on my FSA Orbit ZS headset appear to have siezed into a nasty mess so I’m in need of some new ones but don’t know exactly what I’m looking for.

Could some point me in the right direction please?

Thanks 🙂

Mine did the same, I took it in to the local place that looks after the bike and had it swapped for a hope one, much better supply of spares when they need doing in the future.

New headset isn’t an option, just looking to replace the bearings for now.

Whyte provide life time warranty on bearings, I’m not sure if they limit it to suspension only but it might be worth a try!

Do Whyte offer such a cracking warranty on frame bearings because they really are good and last forever or are they just being helpful?

I guess it’s a combination of the 2, spec’d decent bearings and back them up with decent customer service. I think the deal is that you book in with your local Whyte dealer for a bearing change and assuming the bearings are worn you only pick up the labour.

as I said up there I’m not sure if it applies to headsets though!

It only applies to the pivot bearings and does not apply to any component bearings. Otherwise if they offer headset bearing replacement they also have to offer hub, bb, shifter and any other bearings replacement too, which is unreasonable and unrealistic. Especially as these are components made by other manufacturers.

I think the deal is that you book in with your local Whyte dealer for a bearing change and assuming the bearings are worn you only pick up the labour.

So you still have to pay for the labour? In which case it’s probably still cheaper to buy the bearings and do it yourself.

Also it applies to the bearings only, you have to pay the dealer to remove the old ones and fit the new ones unless it’s part of warranty i.e. faulty.

In which case it’s probably still cheaper to buy the bearings and do it yourself.

Which brings us nicely back to does anyone know where I can buy replacement bearings for my headset from?

Best bet is usually to take the code off the existing bearing then just buy them from a regular bearing supplier. e.g.

http://www.wychbearings.co.uk/bike_bearings.html

Here’s the rub however; I’m away from the bike for a week so would like to be able to order some so I can get them fitted straight away when I get back.

Best bet is usually to take the code off the existing bearing then just buy them from a regular bearing supplier. e.g.
http://www.wychbearings.co.uk/bike_bearings.html

If you’re not taking it to the LBS to do, then give Wych Bearings a shout for sure. They’re based just up the road from me, and I use them as my local bearing supplier too. In all the years I’ve been playing about with bikes, they’re the only bearing supplier out there that seems to even remotely understand the requirements involved from bearings within bicycles, rather than in machinery. They keep good stock of all the popular sizes too.

Be careful though as headset bearings are a nightmare. If you can’t read the bearing code off the outside face of the bearing (common when they’ve corroded inside a headset), then measure the outside diameter, inside diameter, depth and the angle faces and match them up. There’s soooooooo many different types of bearing for headsets, it really isn’t just a case of 1 1/8th or 1.5″ as you expect it might be, and they’re not cheap either!

Mine did the same, I took it in to the local place that looks after the bike and had it swapped for a hope one, much better supply of spares when they need doing in the future

There’s good merit in this. Not because of spares availability (Hopes bearings are normally proprietary, so have to be bought from Hope, so often are harder to get hold of), but because Hope Headset bearings normally last a lot longer than cheap FSA or the like fitted to most OEM bikes.

The downside to this however is that I’m away for the week so want to be able to order the bearings so they’ll be waiting when I get back.

Mine did the same.The bearings are caged steel ones that last a very short period of time. I stuck in some stainless steel ones (1/8 or 5/32in) without the cage that lasted 6 months from ebay. Cost less than £5. The real solution is to buy a hope mixer headset. £60 ish.
Read my moan on STW here.

I don’t suppose you have a link for them please?

A new headset is on the cards but will have to wait for the time being.