Steering Bearings for Kz900

While waiting for my engine work to get finished I'm tearing apart the bike to clean it up, repaint pieces, and replace worn parts.

When I removed the front forks from the steering neck the ball bearings spilled all over the place. When looking at Z1E I found the following bearing: www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2780

Is this just a new style to replace the old race/loose ball bearings?

it is a tapered bearing set and all you do is drive the old races out and install new, no modifing or anything. just an updated type of bearing.

Beautiful - that's what I was hoping you would say!

Make sure you get decent bearings. I'm sure Z1 only carries good quality parts, but there's guys on the KZ650 forum that put these tapered bearings in and have about a 2-3mm too high top triple clamp after installing, then your headlight ears are all loose between the triple clamps from the added gap. Buyer beware of Chinese crap. Back in the day, Timken made the tapered bearings and they fit and worked perfect. Now I doubt they are Timken, but "Crapkin" brand most the time and don't fit. I told Jeff I wouldn't flag all aftermarket parts as trash, and don't mean that, just be aware there is plenty of junk being sold. Also, as I've mentioned before I was surprised to find my new Goldwing still used junk loose bearings and find that they are widely regarded as a better bearing for precise handling. Some of that is lost with tapered. So just the facts second hand from reading. They have worked fine for me, but loose balls work fine for me also.

i hear they also ride up a bit if your not wearing the right shorts.

Ron - are you saying that the action of the steering isn't as smooth once the tapered bearings are used?

Do most people go with the tapered bearing or are the loose bearings more common when reassembling the frame?

Has anyone used these specific bearings and have any comments on their quality/fit on a similar bike for my benefit?

I also see that Jeff has a more expensive bearing available: www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=216
I'm one of those "you get what you pay for" individuals so I would probably error on the more expensive side (especially considering that it's roughly $10).

I was surprised to find (when researching forks), the the 2003-2005 CBR600RR non-tapered bearings for the steering stem as well.

This made me less worried about replacing the bearings as a "upgrade". I am sure they are easier to work with though if you need to replace them.

Ron:

Could this post I found be related to the precision issue with the tapered bearing?

home.insightbb.com/~mmartin36/Taper.htm

The Z1E steering stem bearings (All Balls - AB22-1014) are the same ones I installed in my KZ650C1. They are SMOOOOTH! The loose ball type are also excellent when new, but after long term use mine suffered brinelling (little dents or dimples in the races) that you could feel when turning the handlabars when the bike was sitting still. I'm happy with the new ones as they are a vast improvement over the damaged ones. Ed

D,There are trade off's with most things, In my opinion tapered roller stem bearings are worth it. the big plusses are, they provide an exponentially greater surface area, and therefore are less likely to ding with impact, and, are much easier to install and are less critical about torque than balls. if they have a little more friction, so what? we're talking fractions of inch lbs. put 'em in I'm sure you'll be happy. G

Thanks guys! Don't know how I'd get through this without this group to answer questions...