Headset bearing lifetime - 3 months?

[bdl]

My son extracted the headset bearings from his ~4-month old Merida One-Forty 7.900 (2015) - and the pic below was what he found. The bearings are highly corroded, and were full of dirt, and basically stuffed. He's not been in much mud or such, and we were very surprised to find them in such poor condition. Obviously he's gone way too long before opening the headset up, but is this amount of corrosion expected?

Full size: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/914288/Forum posts/Merida headset bearings.jpg

Ta,
Ben

 

[Dozer]

Er, just clean it and grease it and keep riding. That looks fine to me, a little more than what you'd expect for a four month old bike but dirt and mud don't tend crawl into your garage at night and leech onto your headset.

 

[Warp]

Agree with Dozer...

How do the bearings spin?
That's the important bit. How the races look it's secondary.

 

[submit]

Oxidisation occurs when there is air, and accelerated if you are coastal. So I would say there wasn't that much grease in there to begin with.
I wouldn't worry about the race, instead, look at the ball/roller bearings. Do they spin smoothly? If not, take them out, inspect to see if they are still round, clean and pack them with grease before putting them back in.

 

[schred]

I've found the drop in headset types like this to be hopeless for water ingress. I generally don't ride in the rain so it's prob my fault for washing the bike, and it's a garden hose, not exactly high pressure.

I don't know if it's because the sealing is inadequate top or bottom, but it's surprisingly damp in there every time I go in and take a peek.

 

[Jeffgre_6163]

Pop the seals out with a sharp tool, clean them really well with your preferred solvent and a small brush, regrease, check to see how they feel, they should be ok, re-install
We do it all the time

 

[dh1]

As everyone has said above + Pack the entire headset assembly with grease so that none of it is exposed to atmosphere and it helps to keep out contaminates. And I mean pack it, grease the headset cups where the bearings go, cover the crown race completely and the top cap so that when your headset is tight you have a small amount of grease squeezing out. I have never had any issues with corrosion or any type of contamination using the above method and it's always clean when I pull it apart.

 

[teK--]

As everyone has said above + Pack the entire headset assembly with grease so that none of it is exposed to atmosphere and it helps to keep out contaminates. And I mean pack it, grease the headset cups where the bearings go, cover the crown race completely and the top cap so that when your headset is tight you have a small amount of grease squeezing out. I have never had any issues with corrosion or any type of contamination using the above method and it's always clean when I pull it apart.

This one of the first things I do when I pick up a new bike.

As earlier posted if the bearings still turn smooth just clean it up a bit with some steel wool then repack with grease.

 

[T-Rex]

In addition to the recommendations above, (and specifically use MARINE grease on headsets for prolonged life), make sure your son isn't squirting the garden hose on the bike, gentle hand washing and rinsing only.

Water in bearings is usually what shortens their lives.

 

[bdl]

[dup post]

 

[bdl]

Thanks everyone; indeed I was a bit too quick to condemn the bearings. After opening them up and a good clean with degreaser and toothbrush, etc, they have come good (not quite perfect in the hand, but they feel fine when back on the bike).

My son's packed them with grease; will check them more often and get some marine stuff to hopefully keep the corrosion at bay.

I expect they will need replacing eventually, so where do people get headset (and other?) bearings from? Is there a local AU and/or cheap online place to go - the usual suspects seem to not have the bearings this bike needs (1-1/8 36°x45° and 1.5 36°x45°)? Do brands/etc vary much?