My first Specialized Creo which I have set up for mainly off road riding has covered a fair few miles now. Normally I would strip down a headset on a new bike and grease up all the cups / bearings etc so they last a lot longer as they are always mainly grease free from the factory. Reading the instructions all them years ago I decided not to bother with the Creo as it did not look straight forward. Well the time has come that the bottom race has give up with all the crud.
I was passing BikeScene so called in past and bought a new lower bearing. I re read the instructions from Specialized and watched a few videos, some were quite good others were rubbish.
What could go wrong! well I took my time and followed all the instructions I had and it went very well.
The new bearing was unbranded and not stamped or marked on the side with the size, just like the one I removed. There is a Hope Technology alternative for £22 rrp and Certini Cycles are selling them for £20. Also if you Google around you can get a upper and lower bearing set for £24 from Aire Velo Bearings. If the new bearing lasts as long as the original bearing I will be happy.
I have done a tutorial below, hope it helps anyone who is going to give it a go. One tip is do not use cheap plastic allen keys!
RRP £20.00 and I paid £19.95 from Bike Scene - Guisborough
Manufacturers blurb -
Specialized S092500001 HDS Bearing 1.5 inch Lower Headset Bearing 52mm 0D x 40mm ID x 7mm 45x45Deg VP MH-P16 - Silver/Black
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| First loosen off the grub screw for the adjuster knob, don't screw all the way out just a couple of turns until you can pull it off . 1.5mm allen key. |
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| Don't loosen the central bolt in the unit |
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| Loosen the stem bolts and lift stem off inc the shim. 4mm allen key. |
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| Place the handlebars over the front wheel out of the way |
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| Remove the front part of the plastic headset cover, be careful not to snap the two prongs |
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| Loosen the grub screw to the front of the collar, don't screw it wall the way out with a 2mm allen key |
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| loosen the back pinch bolt on the collar 4mm allen key |
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| Lift out the future shocker unit |
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| Give it a clean and clean down the top collar area and remove collar |
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| Note the two small grooves on the compression ring goes to each side of the steerer tube |
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| Clean the collar and back out the side adjuster screws, 2.5 & 2mm allen keys |
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| Get your new grease ready for re installation |
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| The old lower bearing race |
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| Clean out the headtube cups |
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| and the fork crown race area |
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| Inspect the upper bearing, if its ok clean along with the compression ring |
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| Grease and inset lower bearing |
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| Grease and insert upper bearing and slide fork steerer back through the headtube. Slid down the ring |
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| Line up the collar with the small hole in the fork steerer and nip up locating screw |
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| Reinstall the shocker unit and nip up the collar bolt |
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| Adjust the tension bolt either side evenly with the 2.5mm |
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| Then screw down the inner bolt with the 2mm |
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| Hold the bottom of the grub screw once you get the correct tension and nip down the inner bolt |
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| Refit the stem and nip up the bolts |
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Refit the front plastic cover carefully.
Refit the adjuster top cap, make sure the grub screw fits on the flat side of the shocker unit |
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| Clean off the excess grease |
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| Tools required - 4, 2.5, 2, 1.5mm allen keys and the 3mm flat spanner that comes with the bike from new. |
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