I've been thinking about this recently - that's useful info Erudin.
Would anybody know how straight forward a job it is to replace the cartridge bearings, when the time comes, on my Raven Tour? Are any special tools required or is it just a case of prising the old ones out and pushing the new ones into place?
Cheers.
Its very easy.
Just undo and remove the top cap nut, undo the stem clamp bolts and lift the stem off the steerer along with any spacers, drop the forks out of the frame, lift the lower bearing cartridge off the fork steerer (or it may be left behind in the headset at the bottom of the head tube), lift off the headset top cover (part no.1 in the above diagram), lift out the upper bearing cartridge.
To fit the new bearing cartridges just reverse this procedure, making sure you get the top and bottom bearing cartridges the right way round.