Last July, I had to replace my original OEM steering head bearings and races. I used an “All Balls” kit. It was apart again in Sept for a quick check when I had my forks off for some other reason.
Last weekend, I decided to do my spring fork oil change and WER damper service. After the steering damper and fork were off and I turned the bars from lock-to-lock it felt lumpy and bumpy. Uh-oh. :ugg:
An inspection revealed that while there was still lot of grease - no different than the OEMs used to look, corrosion had a good foothold and the races did not feel smooth. I’m not impressed with the All Balls kit and won’t be using it again. I think it is a materials issue. These things are made in Korea (I think) and the metal seems much less resistant to corrosion that the OEMs were. I’m going to give the Pivot works kit a try next and if that does not do any better I’ll be back to paying OEM prices for Kawi bearings. At least they are better quality Japanese bearings.
Last weekend, I decided to do my spring fork oil change and WER damper service. After the steering damper and fork were off and I turned the bars from lock-to-lock it felt lumpy and bumpy. Uh-oh. :ugg:
An inspection revealed that while there was still lot of grease - no different than the OEMs used to look, corrosion had a good foothold and the races did not feel smooth. I’m not impressed with the All Balls kit and won’t be using it again. I think it is a materials issue. These things are made in Korea (I think) and the metal seems much less resistant to corrosion that the OEMs were. I’m going to give the Pivot works kit a try next and if that does not do any better I’ll be back to paying OEM prices for Kawi bearings. At least they are better quality Japanese bearings.