Top headrace cup - one or two pieces that come out?

[Rod.s]

Well, ordered the Koyo taper bearings and they are SAME size as the All Balls ones.

Therefore have fitted the All Balls with proper grease this time (!) and all is good. If they do pack in I'll get Koyo ones next time but let's just see how they do meantime.

Froze the cups in the freezer for a couple of hours before fitting and heated up the stem tube with a hairdryer for 15 minutes. Worked an absolute treat although the bottom one needed a little persuasion.

(Bit of weld round the old top cup and it just about jumped out of the stem!)

How have you sealed the bearing from water ingress?

[Heelander]

I ordered seals with the All Balls ones at the time.

Thin brass disc "washers" with double lipped rubber seal around the outside of them which fit over the bearing at either end and seal against the frame at the bottom and the largish cover at the top.

Had to remove the original seal from inside the top cover though (pulls out) otherwise you will have rubber compressing down onto the top bearing arrangement.

[Rod.s]

That's great, don't want any of that crap/salt english road water getting in there!

[Heelander]

That'll be *Scottish* road water!

Wetter, colder and far more plentiful than English road water...