headset question

jimbo28

lads,

With the day that's in it, i decided to have a look at my headset. it was making a grinding noise for the last few weeks but to be honest i didn't bother my arse to change it as i knew it could lead to little damage. today i took the the whole thing apart and took out both the upper and lower bearings. the upper bearing is ok and will not need replacing but the lower one is well worn. upon further inspection i decided that i would take apart the racers and clean them up with the dremmel and clean the bearings and cage in petrol, re-greased it and put it back together ( it was full of dirt and caked grease), although not perfect, it is much free-er and i hope to get the winter out of it.the headset itself is an fsa integrated and the bike, a boardman team carbon, however there are no markings on the bearing assembly.

1- I have seen bearing units for sale on crc but i do not know how to pick the right one, can anybody help me?
2- How long would one hope to get from an integrated headset bearing in general?


Any help appreciated, thanks.

seve65

I had similar investigation with a zero-stack headset for my old winter bike.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/headsets.html
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/headset-standards#is

I think I needed 1 1/8 with 5/32 bearings. In the end after trying a few bike shops who didnt have what I needed I went to Halfords and compared visually with these to be sure.
http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_236551_langId_-1_categoryId_212651