There are two low-budget things to try, if you are capable of disassembling your headset. As Anton pointed out, Shimano cartridge bearing units are replaceable. The thing is, the damage always happen on the bottom one. One thing we did a lot at the shop was just put the bottom cartridge unit on top and the top one on the bottom. See if that feels a lot better.
For ball and cup headsets, we'd remove the lower cup from the frame, rotate it 90 degrees and press it back in. That puts the damage at a place you'll never get to. If these mechanics tricks are more trouble then they are worth, then absolutely just get your headset replaced. On Monday, July 13, 2015 at 8:39:25 AM UTC-7, Anton Tutter wrote: > > If this is a modern Ultegra headset, it will use replaceable cartridge > bearings, and the "indexed" feel is caused by one or more of the cartridge > races no longer having a uniform surface for the balls to roll on. You > probably don't need a new headset; you can just have the cartridges > replaced. > > If it were an older style headset that used caged or free bearings, the > races would be built into the headset cups, and the entire headset would > need to be replaced. > > Anton > > > On Monday, July 13, 2015 at 10:45:49 AM UTC-4, Tim wrote: >> >> How do you know when a headset is worn out? My Hilsen has an Ultegra >> headset. The bike was built up in 2011. There seems to be kind of a dead >> spot when the wheel is centered up. If you have the wheel centered and move >> the handlebars to the left and right, it's like you have to overcome >> inertia to get past that spot. The best way I can describe it is it feels a >> little like when you swing one of those swinging saloon doors, the way they >> kind of pause at dead center. It makes me wonder if the headset needs >> replaced. If so, any suggestions as to a good headsets? Thanks! > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
