Having just discovered that my lower steering head bearing needs replacing, I thought I'd check what everyone is using on their Seeleys. I have CB900F yokes which are 30mm diameter at the lower bearing, and in the past I have used a Timken taper roller L45449 L45410 and had it bored (expensively) from the 29mm ID it comes as.

The outer diameter is 50.28mm/ 1.98" , and it is pretty tight in the headstock, which seems to measure 50.15mm using a vernier, oddly.

It would be useful to know any alternatives.

Thanks

I wouldn't be keen on having the stem machined down, as it is tubular and not very thick walled either. I guess I could get a new one made up, but it probably is cheaper to get the bearings bored (the top one has to be too, but luckily it's in good condition still) every decade or so when they need replacing. Although I can add it to my mental list of reasons for buying a lathe...

Having just removed the stem from the yoke, it's actually quite sturdy (it's made of non-stainless steel, stock Honda part); the area where the lower race fits is 30mm OD and 22.75mm ID, so the wall thickness is 3.625mm. It is very tempting to have the OD turned down to 29mm (stock bearing size) as the wall thickness would still be 3.125mm; any thoughts on whether this would be too thin?

Thanks