NoWhammies

In looking at Mrs. NoWhammies bike after a ride this weekend, there seemed to be a lot of oil? Grease? Something else? At the junction between the head tube and the front fork.

Does this part of the bike need maintenance? If so, what maintenance exactly is required? And do I need any special tools such as torque wrench, etc.?

Thank you.

Cyclist0108

It is probably just excess grease from the crown race. Wipe it off with a paper towel.

easyupbug 

Wgscott in all likelihood is correct but yes maintenance may be required. There are bearing in the headset inside that tube and all bearing need attention from time to time. There is a lot written on headset maintenance (try Park Tool search for threaded and threadless headset service) and lots of videos on the web.

FiftySix

Oil will separate from some greases easier than others.

If you've recently greased the bearings or the bike is fairly new, just wipe the oil/grease off and keep on riding. If that's not the case, and the bike has many miles or years on it, then perhaps it's time to take apart the headset to clean out the old grease and lube with new grease.

fietsbob

Its not winter, anymore, and things warmed up..

NoWhammies

Thanks folks.

@FiftySix the bike is not new and does have many miles on it. I would be surprised if the headset has had any maintenance done on it. Looks like it is time to google how to clean and re-lube a headset. Thank you.

Retro Grouch 

That's what I think too.

Headset bearings are packed in grease which shouldn't order normal conditions come seeping out the bottom. Also, headset adjustments aren't the usually DIY bicycle project that folks undertake. I doubt it's a serious problem but I suspect something is fubarred.

Andrew R Stewart 

We see, and clean off, headset lube weepage on many of the bikes we service, many bikes. Usually it's only a minor amount of lube loss, more a surface "stain" then a lump of lube. But transporting a bike outside a car and driving 75mph in the rain can do a number on a headset that isn't well sealed. How do you know whether the lube needs replenishing? Unless the fork's spin is really bad and lacking X Ray vision one takes the headset apart and looks at the internal condition. Andy

easyupbug 

In Southern AZ staining and/or weeping headsets are common, especially this time of year if stored in ambient temps.

sdmc530

When I got my Spec. Allez that first summer in warm temps it leaked and leaked and leaked. they must have put so much grease in the head tube it was crazy. I bet I cleaned off 8oz of grease before it finally calmed down. Not its normal but I thought somebody was playing a joke on me with all that lube coming out.

NoWhammies

That's what I'm worried about ^^ The project not being a DIY one. This might be an instance where I need to call in the pros and take the bike in to the shop.

bikeaddiction1

This is very common. I find that this tends to happen when the headset/bike are new or recently serviced, likely due to too much lubricant or the solvents coming out of new lube. If this is the case do what wgscott said and wipe it off.

You said the bike is fairly new so it does not likely need service. If it does not feel sloppy, or conversely too tight, then there is nothing wrong.

KCT1986

It's not really too complicated to service a headset, usually.

Start by IDing what you have, threadless 1 1/8" mostly now, or threaded on older/less $ bikes.

Search to see if you can find diagrams or pic of what the inside looks like. Look for directions/videos to see if it seems easy enough to handle.
Most just use caged bearing and cup. Threadless systems just needs allen wrenches to remove/replace stem bolts and stem cap. Threaded headset are usually just as simple but need large wrenches for the lock nut and upper bearing race.

andrewclaus

What may have happened to your bike is someone may have serviced the headset incorrectly by squirting oil into it, maybe a spritz of WD-40. That would wash out the grease.

I agree it's time to disassemble, clean and check it. Disassembly and cleaning is straight-forward, but what takes a little more experience are 1) evaluating the parts for excessive wear and 2) fine adjustment after reassembly. It's not hard, but a little skill helps. And if you need to replace the headset, special tools and/or techniques are needed.

The good news is you can always put the old stuff back together and get it close enough to ride on until you get the parts, tools, and help if needed.

Once I found the lower cup pitted badly on the front (load bearing) side. I had no way of getting new parts for several weeks. I removed it and reinstalled it rotated 180 degrees, so the load ran on a clean surface. It worked well enough to leave for several months.

NoWhammies

If I said the bike is/was fairly new I made a mistake. The bike is on the older side. Likely nine years old or so. To my knowledge the headset has never been serviced, but the bike has not seen a lot of action in the past five years. It is only recently that Mrs. NoWhammies has started riding again.

I have Zinn and the Art of Bike Maintenance, so I'll give that book a look through tonight when I get home. I have no clue regarding threadless vs threaded. The bike is an Argon18 Gallium, but that's all I know. Looking at the headset though, it is fairly large in size. I think this was back when Argon18 was selling bikes with a thick headset as part of their bike geometry. I more than likely do not have the proper size wrench for such a job.


Hmm. If someone did squirt some WD-40 in there, it was done a long while ago. The bike hasn't been in for a LBS service in years, and I haven't done any WD-40 work on the bike. The grease seems to have washed out while we were doing a century ride on the weekend and got caught up in some rainy-drizzle.

You're right about not being able to evaluate the parts for wear though. I don't think I have the expertise to do that. Although I don't know how right you are about my ability to re-assemble the bike to get it to the bike shop. I'm good at taking things apart. Getting them back together again is the hard part

djb

headset regreasing isnt that hard, but if you arent into mechanical stuff, its an easy job for a bike shop to do.
As mentioned, if you have the experience to evaluate the turning resistance of the headset, this is a good test, but again, if you dont, a bike store will tell you.
An honest bike mechanic will also tell you that if the bike hasnt been used much, then its most likely fine as is, as a bit of grease weeping is completely normal for bikes.

but as mentioned, if on top of a car a lot in rain or whatever, some new grease would be good.

youtube park tools vids are the best, most reliable videos for referencing working on and understanding this stuff--comes down to your interest and apptitudes.

KCT1986

Thanks for the info of the bike brand. I believe that you have threadless type of headset, but Argon 18 uses a different setup from the more common types. They have an additional insert/converter that allows for additional height adjustments.

Think that they use a cartridge bearing system as opposed to open caged balls. Don't know if the cartridges are fully sealed. Maybe someone else here will chime in or start a new post about Argon's headset system to get more targeted responses.

The good news is that most cartridge systems are better sealed, even of not a fully sealed cartridge. If you aren't having issues with the steering, just clean it up and see if the leaking persists.

djb

as a reference , I overhauled one of my bikes, a 2010 with integrated headset. Took it apart for the first time, so learning as I went, very simple, and after about 8 seasons of being ridden a fair amount, the grease was a bit dirty, but not bad, and I just cleaned and regreased, reassembled it all, keeping track of order of parts.

take photos if need be, to not mix up order, but pretty simple job.
I just used the thick phils bearinggrease I had around, then did the proper preload of the stem and all that.

if it wasnt used that much, and it feels all nice and smooth, its probably fine as is. My headset still felt smooth as always, but as I was doing the whole bike anyway, did the headset also. Bearing was a circular sealed thing, cleaned it up and greased all areas, some grease still oozes a bit out of it, just needs a wipe now and again.

jadocs

You sure it’s grease? Without seeing it, other possibilities include tree sap (happened to me the other day, don’t ask me how) or booger’s from someone in front of you (if you were in a group ride).

Gresp15C

Something like that accumulates on my headset, but when I wipe it off with my finger, there seems to be little or no grease, and it's mostly dust sticking to it. So the grease loss may be negligible. I use a fairly heavy marine bearing grease that came in a big tube from Home Depot. Heaven knows if it's an appropriate bike grease or not, but it's a lifetime supply.

NoWhammies

Thanks for the responses everyone. This sounds like more of a weekend project than an after work one, so I'll have to wait until the weekend to have a look at the bike.

Since cleaning up the bike though, there does not seem to be any grease leaking from the headset. So perhaps it was only happening because of the weather we were riding in - rainy cool drizzle. I'll keep my eye on it, and ask Mrs. NoWhammies to do the same. I would be surprised though if the headset didn't require SOME kind of maintenance. If only the kind spoken about by @djb.


Thanks again.

djb

no problem.
No matter what you do, I really do recommend looking at some Park Tools videos. They are very well filmed, camera angles, closeups, lighting, and the friendly fellow explains things very well.
Worth it just to get in your head the workings of various bike parts, and to visualize dismantling etc

they are a great resource, so only you know if you have the interest to do it on your own, but seeing a professional do it beforehand will make it very clear of what is involved and the basic steps.

remember though, use your cell phone camera to photograph order of parts if you disassemble it, laying each one down on a clean paper towel or whatever and taking a photo is a great way not to screw up and mix things up, very easy to do, and we have all done it.

NoWhammies

Quick note to this thread. Mrs. NoWhammies had the bike looked at by someone with way more experience than I. He ended up repacking the bearings in the top tube and adding some more grease. Thanks for your help.

djb

keep an eye and a rag on hand, as after regreasing and especially in hot weather, grease will weep out a bit. The bike that I overhauled last year and that Ive been riding a lot this summer is still giving me some grease marks from the headset area on my legs when I hold the bike with my legs near the headset at lights sometimes.
so its normal, but wipe now and again just so it isnt messy for the Missus.

oh, any maybe check it once in a while to make sure there is no play in the headset, yet not binding at all.

easyupbug 

I repeat, You are a credit to the forum, cheers.