Need some info regarding the Mavic Mtb headset

I just picked-up a 1990 Wicked Fat Chance the other day. The seller, knows little about bikes, and in the process of removing the stem he left the wedge in the steerer. Thats no big deal, but instead of just leaving things sit, he started messing around with the Mavic headset thinking this was somehow going to help his cause. Now he has a loose heaset/fork and is asking how he gets it re-tightened. I do not know much about the Mavic headset regarding the construction and installation, but my real concern is that he has loosened it enough to lose some ball bearings from the headset.

The good news(if there really is any) is that the guy did not remove the fork from the headset, so the likelihood of him losing pieces from the lower cup is slim other than losing bearings. From what I read on the BikePro site it sounds like their are 22 ball bearings in each race with some form of retainer. I guess my main question is can anyone confirm is this headset is loose bearing. I also did some seacrhes which provided a link to the bikepro link to that headset here : http://www.bikepro.com/products/headsets/mavic_hset.

If anyone has a diagram of what parts are in the headset stack (spacers, etc..) it would be great to confirm what may or may not be lost.


Thanks in advance for any info anyone might have. Btw- I did do my searches before posting this question, and thats how I came up with the bikepro details.

Jeff

Well using the link to the bikepro info and talking with the guy that had the headset out of whack, I was able to give him enough info that he was able to get things resolved (I hope ). Thanks to the info on this site a potential headache was averted...thanks for a great reference!

Jeff

theres a mavic headset on my wifes bike. been on there soo long I cant remeber if the bearings are caged, let me know if you need checking.
send pics of the Wicked when u can

Mavic and stronglight use a nylon cage to hold the bearings very securly. No worries as long as the bearing surfaces are not damaged.

yep, split nylon cage with teeny bearings constrained.

Noice headsets though

gump":z9yi1rih said:

Noice headsets though

Click to expand...

the bearing quality is good. but the stupidly high stack height & inability to run spacers or cable hanger always annoyed me.

yep, they are high.

But about the only design I would consider using on a threaded hset. I hate them with a passion. Guaranteed to come loose in some far remote place, no spanners cos they are so big, and end up hand tightening with the inevitable knackered hset.

Aheadsets are one of my fave inventions on a bike

Thanks for the info and background, the situation appears to be pretty stable now and I am confident things will make it to me in decent condition.

I will be posting some future details of the Wicked, and another Wicked frame set I am going to be working with. Here is a shot of the bike..

Loving the bike....for me the Mavic headset is a piece of art, love mine to bits...would only consider changing it for something like a campag one...

In reference to the bearing I think you've sorted it but here's a picture on the bearings in their nylon race...

Rich,

Thanks for the kind words on the bike. Also thanks a lot for posting the pic of the headset and bearing/race. I am hoping based on my conversation with the guy, that all is well. The bike gets delivered on Tuesday of next week, but I will be out of town and won't be back for a month to check it out. Oh well..

That bike was an accidental purchase kind of. I am trading my Klein Quantum Pro for a NOS wicked frame/fork, big one inch fork and some other vintage and non-vintage parts. The NOS frame is exactly the same color, and when I saw the Mavic headset and hubs on the bike, I decided it might make a good parts bike. I got a pretty nice deal on it too, but now I am thinking of just building the NOS Wicked as an SS to keep the virgin frame clear of clamp marks and potential chain suck. So the parts and pieces, other than the syncros post, will probably stay on the "used " Wicked, and I will either keep it as a geared bike, or re-sell it at some point.