Acros Lower Headset Bearing

[Piku808]

Hi, I’m new to this emtb-ing.
I bought my secondhand decoy a few weeks ago, been out a few times and my new shred is awesome.
I’ve noticed I keep getting a creaky noise from the headset area so thought I’d investigate. The upper bearings are smooth and not dirty, the lower ones. Well they’re totally shot which I’m gutted about,

I’ve ordered a new bearing set but my issue is how the hell do I get the bearing cage out as the lock block is in the way.
Any advice would be really handy cheers

 

[skinipenem]

Hi, I’m new to this emtb-ing.
I bought my secondhand decoy a few weeks ago, been out a few times and my new shred is awesome.
I’ve noticed I keep getting a creaky noise from the headset area so thought I’d investigate. The upper bearings are smooth and not dirty, the lower ones. Well they’re totally shot which I’m gutted about,

I’ve ordered a new bearing set but my issue is how the hell do I get the bearing cage out as the lock block is in the way.
Any advice would be really handy cheers

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Subscribed. Wondered the same thing yesterday when I did a regrease.

 

[Chrysaor]

Hi,

it has already been raised in a previous post, but basically the Acros headset is not made to have its bearing replaceable: you need to change the whole headset as the bearings are pressed in inside the cups. It is a real bummer, I have changed my headset for a Works components and I will never buy Acros anymore it is insane to change the whole stuff while most of the brands allow you to repack or replace just the bearings...

From Acros website:

Q: I would like to replace a bearing in my ACROS headset, but i have trouble removing it from the bearing shell. What can I do?

A: The bearings are press-fitted into the ACROS headsets, which means that the bearing and the bearing shell are fitted together using a kuckle goint press under huge exertion of force. This system provides many technical advantages as well as granting each headset a high life expectancy. In the rare case one of the bearings has to be replaced, please turn the headset to us. We guarantee a quick professional and prompt service, so you can get back on the bike as soon as possible.

"In the rare case the bearings has to be replaced" corresponds to me to roughly every 6 months

 

[Piku808]

Thanks Chrysaor for your reply and info.
I’m going to order a Works headset too, I can’t be doing with this faff and bearing failure fear in several months time.
The Acros probably looks good on paper but in reality a load of shite!
Do you know if the cups are easy to remove? Not going to damage the carbon fibre etc?

 

[Chrysaor]

It was not the easiest to remove but it was okay overall. I have let it set overnight with some wd40 and I’ve hammered the cups out the next day with a tool like that:

Just be careful to position the tool on the cup edge and not on the carbon of the frame and you should not damage anything

 

[skinipenem]

This is exactly what I was afraid of. I gotta wonder what the engineering advantages were supposed to be.

Eighteen rides in and wicked headset creak. Greased everything and creak resolved for one ride so far. Fingers crossed because when it happens again I'll be installing a new headset. Haven't pressed one in for years, but oh well

 

[BeBiker]

My cube has the same headset.
With some precision mindset, it's possible to only replace the bearing.
The blocklock comes easyly out together with the bearing

 

[2stroked]

I had this issue yesterday, bearings everywhere but ended up finding all the bearings and putting it back together otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to ride on our trip. Silly design