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Steering stem roller bearings v ball bearings 73 CL175

Absolutely worth doing. I did it on my 450 and it's like silk now. It isn't so much that the tapered bearings are better, they are because the spread the weight and force over a wider area than the individual balls do, it's the benefit of never having dimpled races again that make your steering feel notchy.
 
Absolutely worth doing. I did it on my 450 and it's like silk now. It isn't so much that the tapered bearings are better, they are because the spread the weight and force over a wider area than the individual balls do, it's the benefit of never having dimpled races again that make your steering feel notchy.


Yes, the cost is quite reasonable. It is sad that so often poor adjustment has caused shorter lifespans on steering bearings. Lazy or inexperienced mechanics would leave overly tight headsets (bicycle lingo) on new bikes all the time.

If you are cheap, like me, you can knock out the races and rotate them 180 degrees to extend the life of a partially dimpled bearing set and throw out caged balls and run all loose balls although, this is not usually found on motorcycles, only bicycles and mopeds (usually French).
 
Oddly enough, and I was not aware of it until my cousin in NM had to change the steering bearings on his VTX1300C and found caged ball bearings in it.

https://www.vintagehondatwins.com/forums/showthread.php?700-Death-Wobble&p=5688&viewfull=1#post5688


Campagnolo headsets had very fine caged balls that equaled the same number as loose but the French and later the Taiwanese cages skipped every other ball. They didn't last very long. Interestingly, the British never used caged balls but did use tiny 1/8" in all 3spd's as the norm was 3/16" (oops 5/32", IIRC).
 
Campagnolo headsets had very fine caged balls that equaled the same number as loose but the French and later the Taiwanese cages skipped every other ball. They didn't last very long. Interestingly, the British never used caged balls but did use tiny 1/8" in all 3spd's as the norm was 3/16" (oops 5/32", IIRC).

Interesting. I've had more than a few bikes when I was younger that had flat spots in the races and always ended up replacing the balls and races, the notchy steering was quite annoying.
 
Interesting. I've had more than a few bikes when I was younger that had flat spots in the races and always ended up replacing the balls and races, the notchy steering was quite annoying.

Once the races are brinelled, they're toast. The tops wear on the back and the bottoms on the front so if not too bad you can rotate each 180 degrees and squeeze out some more usage.
 
Once the races are brinelled, they're toast. The tops wear on the back and the bottoms on the front so if not too bad you can rotate each 180 degrees and squeeze out some more usage.

Yeah I get it, and on a bicycle it would be significantly easier. If I'm pulling the front end of a bike down it's going to get new parts so I don't have to go back in there again.
 
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