MFallon

Good morning:

The quick question:
Does anyone know if a Richey WCS 1-inch headset would be a good fit for a 2002 Trek 520?

The longer explanation:
I have recently picked up cycling and inherited my brother's old Trek 520. It's been a perfect fit for me as I'm a rather husky lad (245 lbs at present) and the thing feels like a battleship. It is very confidence-inspiring and while I won't be touring on it, I like it as a general purpose bike for my morning rides.

That said, I've decided to upgrade the bars to Rickey WCS Ergomax and then realized I'd need a new stem too (so I got a matching Richey WCS.... in addition to new brake levers and all new cables). As I'm a total novice, I've found myself going down the rabbit hole and now believe my bike has a 1" fork tube, so I got a shim to allow for the larger stem... Taking this measurement meant pulling of the stem cap and when I re-tensioned the bolt, I noticed that the headset felt a little notchy -- not real bad, but definitely like it needed some grease, at minimum.

I've read less than stellar things about the Cane Creek C1 headsets that came stock, so now I'm thinking that I might just put in a new matching headset too..... Hence my question. I just don't know if the steerer tube is the only think one needs to worry about with a Threadless headset or if there are other considerations too.

A long winded and meandering story, but thought it might share some context.

Thanks, Matt

robow

I wouldn't hesitate at all in putting a Ritchey or a Cane Creek 40 1" headset to use. Unless installed incorrectly or abused, it should last for many many years.

kingston 

Every time I have to replace a headset I go with a chris king so I don't have to replace it again.

fietsbob

I did replace the Chris King Headset on my Bike Friday, (1.25" Gripnut) but it was with a warranty replacement..
My 1" 2 nut is now 30 years old & still fine..

Doug64

Same here-- I've used the Cane Creek 40 for about 10,000 miles of loaded touring without any problems. The sealed bearings require minimal maintenance.

MFallon

Sounds good -- I'll check it out. So, it seems that the steerer tube diameter is the only thing I need to account for.

While I'm comfortable with everything else, I'm doing this one seems like it might be best taken care of by the pros. I'd hate to screw it up, so the bike may have to go to the shop for installation.

While the bike is old, my brother road it very little. My guess is that it only has about a total of 1,000 miles on it between the two of us. Maybe all the grease just dried up....

I very much appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.

Doug64

Another thought-- If the bike has been sitting for long time, it may also be good to go through your hub bearings.

Tourist in MSN

If you have the year correct, sounds like it is a 1 1/8 steerer tube, not 1 inch.
https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/...k%20&model=520

You might want to get out the ruler to verify size.

I rebuilt a Cane Creek C2 back in about 2004. I have no clue how close that model is to your C1. But on mine, the bearings were loose balls in between an upper and lower race that I could pry apart to clean and re-lube to re-assemble. On mine the upper bearing unit and lower bearing unit were identical. If yours is built like the C2, I think you should spend a little quality time with some solvent and good grease and see if it will work as good for you as my C2.

I bought my C2 used, rebuilt and re-greased it, put it on a frame that I eventually disposed of (was a defective frame), in 2016 I put that C2 on my rando bike where it works just great and is still in use.

There are lots of good headsets out there, if you really want to buy a new one you might find that the bike shop fee to install a new one (I assume you do not have the tools to press the cups into the frame and race onto a fork) might cost as much as the headset itself. Thus, resurecting your existing headset might be worth the effort. I do not recall exactly what I paid to put that C2 headset on my rando bike four years ago, but it was more than I expected to pay.

I do not think it a violation of copyright rules, I attached a PDF with the exploded diagram of a C2. I saved this file to my hard drive in 2004.

Good luck.

MFallon

Tourist in MSN thanks very much. You're right that Trek listed a 1 1/8 steerer in the specs, but upon doing research I found that many of the frames shipped with the 1" steerer -- it seems like perhaps frames <23" that year(?). I'd hoped mine would have the larger diameter, but verified it was in fact the smaller size with a micrometer.

From what I've read -- and now have seen -- I think the C1 and C2 were very closely related. I actually had it apart last night and cleaned it up and repacked it with grease. It was pretty dry and the bottom bearings were filthy. I'm still going to have my local bike shop install a new one though. I like the idea of it all being sealed up especially if it is being exposed to a good bit of water. And, I'm lazy....

Tourist in MSN

If you have already re-greased and re-built it, I would ride it for a month or two or three, and then decide. Maybe make the upgrades in winter when bike shops are less busy. Many times I planned to change something on a bike, but decided to put that decision off for a short time, and eventually decided everything was just fine the way it was. If it works just fine the way it is, there is no rush.

MFallon

Ha -- know know exactly that feeling. Give it a week and I'll forget that I thought it was a problem at all.

saddlesores

why replace the whole unit?
the bearings are expendables. just buys yaself a set of cartridge bearings.

MFallon

I could have a limited understanding, but these bearings are loose, so there isn't what I think of as a traditional cartridge. Although, biking is new to me (I have more of an "adventure motorcycling" perspective), so I could be totally wrong.

Tourist in MSN

Yup. You got it figured out. Some of my other bikes have cartridge bearings that you buy a complete cartridge and discard if (or when) it goes bad, that is what he was talking about.

MFallon

This is a bit of a long shot, but does anyone know the fork crown size on this era 520 with the 1" fork tube? I tried to knock the race off with a large flat bladed screw driver, but it was taking a little more persuasion than I was comfortable dealing out. Especially, as I want to reassemble everything and ride it until the new headset arrived.

Thanks, Matt

robow

Are you planning on reusing the crown race ? Wouldn't think so if you have a new headset coming in. If you can lift it even a little bit, often you can make a cut in it in order to simplify removal but of course it is then destroyed.

MFallon

I want to take the measurement to order for the bike shop to order the new headset in the right size -- the owner asked me to take the measurement. That said, I was hoping to minimize downtime and keep riding the bike while I waited for the new headset to arrive -- hence reusing the existing race for a few days.....not a long term thing, just bridging the gap.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks....

MFallon

Responding to my own question in hopes it might help someone else one day. I finally got the crown race off and it looks like it is 26.4mm.

Case closed....I hope.

Thanks to all for your help..