Himalayan Steering Head Bearings

The steering head bearings went on my F700gs at 3000 miles. never pressure washed.
replaced under warranty.
 
The steering head bearings went on my F700gs at 3000 miles. never pressure washed.
replaced under warranty.

I bet they weren't re-torqued at the first service like they're meant to be. Dealers always seem to 'forget' because it's a pain to do.
 
Any chance there is an electrical earth issue? The fine pitting looks interesting...
 
We shall have to agree to disagree on that. Taper bearings are generally only pattern parts. Most manufacturers use ball bearings as OEM they offer more feedback and feel. But they wear faster. You can easily take out slack with grease. I see it all the time. I fail a bike on an MOT and then the owner comes back two hours later with grease bulging out of the headstock and they're tight even though they're past adjustment.. It's the oldest trick in the book. It's only temporary.

That's why when people fit new bearings with ridiculous amounts of grease they work loose quickly. I've had numerous service bulletins from the manufacturers I've worked with stating this very fact and warning techs not to add further grease to head bearings when fitting them. Because they were changing them under warranty because of incorrect fitting..

Most modern BMW head bearings are torqued. Usually about 7nm with the wheel on the ground and then set with an angle gauge.

I think if you read my posts I've referred to taper bearings which are most certainly fitted as standard to many quality bikes. To claim taper bearings are only pattern parts is complete bollocks so not quite sure where you really are getting your duff info from :D
 
No. I'm a professional motorcycle technician and MOT tester who works on bikes every day of his life and changes cheap bearings for a living. If you think your bargain bucket RE is built out of anything else but low quality "indian equivalent" branded parts then you're living in a dream world. It's cheap for a reason. I didn't say it was a crap bike. But it's a five grand bike for a reason.
Excuse me..... mine was £5899 OTR
All I can say is RE is 120 years old this year and sells in excess of 60,000 bikes a month + the main design centre is still in the UK. They own Harris Performance and my Interceptor frame is Harris.
Is a current 15k bike really 3 times better than a 5k RE?

All these cheap shite bearings you change, are they all bearings on RE bikes?
 
I didn't say taper bearings are only pattern parts. I said they generally are. I'm not going to argue it because I know it's fact. Because it's been my job for over twenty years fitting them for nearly every manufacturer and changing them when people fit them incorrectly.

Why does everything on this forum have to be a petty argument ffs?
 
When I was overhauling a 650 ss norton for a customer I wanted some taper roller bearings for the steering head. My local specialist bearing supplier said no, he explained about the amout of surface connection area and drag and suggested a particular type of ball race. He was right the steering was very light and quick responding with them fitted.
 
Well, a bunfight about REH steering bearings kicks up, marvelous. Good 'ole UKGSER :D

I'll be doing with the bearings that which i have always done with steering bearings ie. grease well then the same as Timolgra for the adjustment.
Hasn't failed me yet and i don't expect it to this time. I do however keep a watchful eye for a while to ensure nothing slacks off, just in case.

An observation, steering bearings on racing bikes do seem to be all taper roller and from what i have observed over the years an upgrade is to
bin ball bearing races in favour of taper roller bearings to improve the steering and longevity.
 
I didn't say taper bearings are only pattern parts. I said they generally are. I'm not going to argue it because I know it's fact. Because it's been my job for over twenty years fitting them for nearly every manufacturer and changing them when people fit them incorrectly.

Why does everything on this forum have to be a petty argument ffs?

Not being petty at all.
Since this all started with the amount of grease to use and no one's explained....

I've only said it's ok to put grease in the void and never advocated packing the bearings, any bearing for that matter such as when popping the seals on dirt bike wheel bearings to regrease.

So what does over packing do?
It's prevents either a ball or roller from turning causing either to slide resulting in premature wear.

Simple :)

The debate between balls or rollers for steering is age old :D
 
While i'm at it i'm changing the fork oil. Funny thing is, the book says 455ml/leg and that's what is used in the various videos on the subject but, i only got a total amount of about 550ml out of both legs :nenau
 
While i'm at it i'm changing the fork oil. Funny thing is, the book says 455ml/leg and that's what is used in the various videos on the subject but, i only got a total amount of about 550ml out of both legs :nenau

You're better off finding the air gap. That's how fork oil should be measured. Maybe the quality control in the RE factory isn't so precise after all ;)
 
You're better off finding the air gap. That's how fork oil should be measured. Maybe the quality control in the RE factory isn't so precise after all ;)

Perhaps they use half of what they should and take the rest home and sell it :D

Unfortunately i don't have an air gap mesurement to work to only the 455ml/leg quantity which, seems a lot to me.
 
Are sure you got it all out and were there equal amounts in each fork?
As you say, 455ml per leg is the spec, try it and see as it sounds about right.
 
Are sure you got it all out and were there equal amounts in each fork?
As you say, 455ml per leg is the spec, try it and see as it sounds about right.

I did get it all out and yes, I'll give it a go as it prob is right :thumb2
 
Some use less oil/bigger air gap to get an initial softer ride but surely not that little oil :D
 
The 500 efi with the straight style forks only use 195ml per leg.
The Himmy oem is 455ml per leg which you can alter to suit your requirements.
 
Half a litre per fork leg is not unusual. I rebuilt the forks on a GSXR1000 last week and they took 450ml per leg. They are shorter forks too but will run more oil for a firmer ride.
 


Back
Top Bottom