Far all you indoor-heavy cyclists - how’s the headset on your bike?
Just curious, as I’ve been indoor training a lot for at least 7 yrs now, and in the past year I got sick and tired of sweating and corroding through the headset of the bikes I put on my Kickr, so I put a dedicated trainer bike on it (my old Cervelo with a broken RD hanger, I only use 1 gear on it, but erg mode so doesn’t matter).
In all prior years, I had to pay to have my headset bearings completely replaced and other parts replaced every year due to corrosion. Didn’t matter how many towels I put on the top, and I have a powerful Lasko-blower fan blowing at me as well.
I used to put my race bike on the trainer to get that TT training but after all that headset corrosion, no more of that for me. But it seems like most folks here never complain about it!
I’m surprised your sweat reaches the headset.
I use two fans (one is a powerful fan sold for drying paint and indoor cycling, and a cheap one on the other side), sweat bands on wrists and head, and at least two towels, one covering the handlebars. If too hot I use AC, otherwise just open windows. If a long hot session I might have to swap towel mid ride.
I’ve also used a tacx swear cover in the past, but haven’t used it in a long time since the rest of the setup seems sufficient.
It definitely wears the headset bearings out a lot faster, even with towels etc. nothing seems to stop it! I also went through a set of front wheel bearings for the same reason.
I considered a cheap dedicated turbo bike but headset bearings are $30 ish and a 15 min easy job to swap out so I didn’t bother. I did get a cheap front wheel instead of using the race wheel.
It definitely wears the headset bearings out a lot faster, even with towels etc. nothing seems to stop it! I also went through a set of front wheel bearings for the same reason.
I considered a cheap dedicated turbo bike but headset bearings are $30 ish and a 15 min easy job to swap out so I didn’t bother. I did get a cheap front wheel instead of using the race wheel.
Yeah, on my Premier Tactical the brake cables run through the headset and bearing so it’s a total bear to replace the headset bearings as you have to redo all the internal cable brake routing in front. $200+ every time the LBS does it, not even including the bearing and washer costs.
My sweat rate hovers around 1.5L/hr and up to about 1.75. So moderate to heavey sweater.
I protect the stem cap with a drip guard and a towel.
After the ride I remove the towel and wipe away any moisture from that area.
Leave my two fans running for 30 minutes after my ride to dry things out.
My sweat rate hovers around 1.5L/hr and up to about 1.75. So moderate to heavey sweater.
I protect the stem cap with a drip guard and a towel.
After the ride I remove the towel and wipe away any moisture from that area.
Leave my two fans running for 30 minutes after my ride to dry things out.
Never an issue
How long are you riding for? I sweat thru a big bath towel in less than 40 mins once I’m going full tilt. At 2-3 hrs it always gets through even by a little.
I have a Lasko blower too so I find it surprising you’re dripping all over your headset. Put the blower higher off the ground and aim it at your chest so the flow passes unimpeded above the bars.
What drips will be blown back and not hit your headset as much anymore.
Wrap a small tower around the seat tube right above the BB.
My sweat rate hovers around 1.5L/hr and up to about 1.75. So moderate to heavey sweater.
I protect the stem cap with a drip guard and a towel.
After the ride I remove the towel and wipe away any moisture from that area.
Leave my two fans running for 30 minutes after my ride to dry things out.
Never an issue
How long are you riding for? I sweat thru a big bath towel in less than 40 mins once I’m going full tilt. At 2-3 hrs it always gets through even by a little.
I use a towel over the stem and a fresh towel every hour for drying myself, plus fan. Never have an issue with sweat getting on the bike.
Headset is good. I remove the stem, and headset to clean and lube on a regular basis. I think the secret is using a good grease, which will repel the sweat for a little while.
Why would you pay someone to replace your headset? It’s one of the simplest and cheapest parts to replace on a bike. Just pull the fork and drop it in.
I sweat buckets but I don’t have issues either. I cover all open parts with towels but I also wear sweatbands and running hats while on there to catch most sweat. I probably go through about one every 45 mins. I just toss the one I’m wearing on the floor and then put on another one. Limits the amount of sweat that gets onto the towels under me and then I just hang them and use them the next ride. Wash them once a week with the towels.
Why would you pay someone to replace your headset? It’s one of the simplest and cheapest parts to replace on a bike. Just pull the fork and drop it in.
You didn’t read my earlier post. On my bike, the headset not only is sandwiched in a complex way, but also has the internally-routed FB cable running through the center of it. You have to redo the internal cable routing for the FB as well as redo the headset which on my bike is non-standard and not easy to get right. (I’ve tried it.) My LBS charges me $200+ for it; they only charge like $45 for a typical standard road bike headset bearing replacement. (And I’m providing the bearings, not included in that cost.)
There are cheap sweat catcher things on amazon. No sweat gets in headset all.
I tried those. I sweat so much it drips onto it, around, it, and then down onto the headset. Even with a towel on it, in a very short time, I’ll sweath through the whole towel, and then that sweat goes right around the sweat catcher.
Maybe I have to get my blower to more eye-level;mine’s on the ground so I don’t think it’s blasting the sweat backwards enough off the headset area.
I ride on the trainer 95% of the time with my TT bike and have helped this issue by putting a shower cap over the arm pads and pulling it back over the headset area. I then put a towel over the shower cap.
I have a Stages SB20, so headset isn’t an issue. Sweat corrosion on other parts is an ongoing battle, and I need to take off the covers and do a good clean at some point, but am a little afriad of what I’ll find.
I ride around 10k miles a year, most of which is indoors, so taking care of the bike is very important. Prior to getting the Stages bike, I had to replace several things on my regular bike, like the chainset, cassette, and rewax chains on almost a weekly basis. It’s nice to not have to worry about those things, and is what led me to getting a specific indoor bike for riding.
Also, the headband advice is really good. I use a thin buff which I form into a headband. Change it every hour, too.
Ha - headbands!
Those are completely useless to me. Once I’m going, I’ll saturated it completely in <10 minutes, and <5 minutes on intervals. I actually use a pastic “SweatGUTR” but it’s not great for cycling since the sweat tends to go forward on your head anyway, but it’s better than nothing.
My garage does get on the warm side; once I’m going, it’s like 72F-75F but in summer it can get 80-84F (I need two fans for that.)
I’ve tried saran wrapping my headset in the past as well, but I don’t think I did a good job, as it seemed to make things worse - once I took the saran wrap off there was salt IN the wrap, moreso than without it!