Steering-head bearings

Adventure Rider Issue #37

• Fit Out
• Checkout
• Yearn to learn with Karen Ramsay
• Aged care with Andy Strapz
• BMW GS Safari Enduro with Miles Davis
• Best Job In The World
• PLB rescue
• Opals in the rough
• Steering-head bearings
• Don’t mention the war
• Saddle time
• The Canning Stock Route
• Broken Hill to Innamincka
• Red Centre Adventure Rallye
• High-country ride
• The Savannah Way
• KTM Enduro 690 R
• Cold war warriors
• It’s what we do

here’s probably no single high-use component on an adventure bike that gets less attention than steering-head bearings. These are the bearings which allow the smooth, free turning of the ’bars/forks/front wheel from lock to lock, and, as the name suggests, they’re housed inside the steering head – the tube at the front of the frame which holds the steering stem connecting the top and bottom triple clamps.

When we took the KLR to Nick Dole he had to use an oxy to get old collars out. That’s very specialised and highly technical work.

The reason the bearings are so often neglected is because they usually deteriorate very gradually, and a rider who’s on the bike day-to-day doesn’t notice.

We’ve never heard of a steering head actually seizing on a bike in regular use, but we’ve ridden a few where the steering-head bearings were in bad shape, and it can be a very unpleasant experience.