Brembo sounds like sweet upgrade! Houston is pretty good for all year riding. Sometimes maybe it's too HOT to ride instead of too cold down here.
This weekend did somemore. Interesting journey through bullcrap,... I was thinking I'd document everything for the next guy who needed steering bearings and,...well yea
Started out good. My wife surprised me by buying me a hf tire machine. I'd complained about tires taking me so long and she actually got me the tire machine set up. Was speechless!
Let me get this out of the way now.
Warning: GROM BEARINGS DON'T FIT. Well not easily anyways.
Got bike set up and started on bearings:
easy enough spanner nut allright
here's what you end up with, nothing too complicated
bottom bearing missing a couple bbs. I'm thinking 'great there's my problem.'
pop out these races. Top one looked ok.
My walkthrough, thinking to show how to get that bottom race off. I tap a wedge in there and move it around, lever it off. Takes a bit of patience but it'll come off,....
new all balls grom bearing on. Things going ok. It's a bit taller than the crappy chinese bearing that came out but I'm thinking it'll work out.
annnd that's when things went bad. Pounded in the races and then my steering stem was too short. The spanner nut threads on to the lower threads and could no longer reach them. Called it a night and thought about how the f am I going to fix this now. Also all pictures and walkthrough down the drain at this point,..sorry
Morning and Holy Ghost whispered to me to cut it, add an extension and weld it up. I thought why not, if it doesn't work I can always go back. I love having a welder.
Cut it in the middle and fit a piece inside the stem to keep it straight. Welded it up and bravo, it actually worked. Maybe 5/16's longer. Reassembly went good. All's looking good. Changed out my tires and mounted them. Tires are Shinko Blackwall 120/70-12 & 130/70-12 SR723's,...
This morning rode in and those bearings are butter smooth. Amazing difference. Tires are ten times better than stock kendas. Grip and 'feel' made me smile.
So, yea Grom bearings no buenos. They are too tall to fit. I have the old ones to measure later and post sizes for the next guy trying to find the right ones.
Need to change front brake fluid,... Up one on rear shock for stiffer ride,.. Oh and figure out what that occasional chirpy-squeaky sound is,...making me nuts