Steering Head Bearings

[MSerfozo]

Lately, my '01 Bandit 1200 has been giving a slight chatter with hard front braking just before coming to a complete stop.  At speed, it's not noticeable at all - just at a few mph when coming to a stop.

I'm planning to replace the head bearings and I thought I remembered that there was a change from ball bearings to roller bearings in the later years.  Sure enough, Ron Ayers shows a different part number for '03 and up and describes the later years' bearings as "tapered bearings".  I last replaced mine with All Balls Racing brand when I swapped the forks for Hayabusa USDs several years ago.

Anyway, I started digging and found the dimensions of the stock bearings are 25x47x15 and 30x55x17.  Ron Ayers and BikeBandit show them for over $30 apiece and backordered.  I can buy NSK brand tapered roller bearings in those dimensions from Amazon for less than $15 apiece and have them in 2 days.  For reference the numbers are 32005XJ and 32006XJ.

Does anybody have any experience doing this?  I can't imagine there is anything special about the OEM or All Balls to justify the price.

[mello dude]

I have heard of guys doing that, but I don't have the direct experience... if you have Amazon prime you could order, check them out, and if not appropriate, return them.

Also, check Partzilla and Rocky Mountain to see if they have in stock..

 

Btw, I think your bandit plus mods is awesome.

Edited December 15, 2020 by mello dude

[MSerfozo]

Thanks mello dude for the info and the compliment.  I've been at building this Bandit for 19 1/2 years now - if it's not awesome to anybody else, at least it's what I want.

 

I found an All Balls Racing bearing kit on Amazon for $32.75 and it includes both dust seals so I'm going to go ahead and buy it.  Maybe I can get around to swapping the bearings over the holidays, unless I spend the whole 2 weeks off watching TV and drinking beer!