Rolling out another bearing post....

Rolling out another bearing post....

Even though I was mercilessly ridiculed for my obsession with lubrication and bearings by veterans of this Forum, I will press on with today's lecture (notice embedded pun).

Blanca, turn around and face the front of class, and put away the bag of Dorito's.

Anyways, today I moved into the big league of motorcycle bearings....the steering head.
First a philosophy...if you have disassembled an area of your motorcycle that seldom or never gets attention, and it includes bearings, I think it makes sense to replace the bearings at that time. They don't cost much for top of the line replacements (except if you go to ceramics) and it just feels good to know they are new and fully efficient, EVEN THOUGH the the old ones may function OK.

Another thing I noticed in terms of my head bearings at least, is that OEM ones are roller and they sit in a two part race track (see below pics). The replacements I am using are big tapered units that sit on a one piece track surface. Also, all else being equal, tapered bearings have more contact surface doing the work so the psi is lowered due to more swept surface area (way noticible in the pics below). In some applications that may not be desirable or even relevant but in the steering head, I think it's an upgrade.

One more thing, when I was breaking down the front forks and triple tree assembly, before I removed the striped down assembly itself, I stood in front of the bike and moved the unit back and forth from lock to lock....it really concerned me when I felt how UNSMOOTH the steering action was! It felt "gritty" (if that word makes any sense) and somewhat unprecision with a "notch" in the movement when in straight ahead position. When all apart, there was nothing visible that would indicate wear or malfunction....and the bike was a well cared for Busa with 19k miles on it (the Superbyke).

More later when forks are back on! Love ya, Doyle

ps can't wait to massage these big new bearings with grease!

Attached Images