Headsets
Browse used BMX headsets for sale from riders across the UK. A headset is the pair of sealed cartridge bearings that lets the fork steer in the frame, and almost every modern BMX frame takes the integrated 1-1/8in fit, with older and cheaper frames using pressed-in cups. This category covers complete headsets, spare bearings and the top caps, compression rings and crown races that go with them.
Which BMX headset fits my frame?
Measure before you buy. An integrated frame has the 45-degree bearing seats machined into the head tube itself, so the cartridge bearings drop straight in and out by hand. A pressed-cup frame has a plain bore and needs cups pressed in, which is a workshop job, and an integrated headset will not sit in it. A complete headset should arrive as two bearings, two seals or covers, a compression ring, a crown race and a top cap with its bolt.
Is my headset worn out or just loose?
Loose costs nothing to fix: back the stem bolts off, take up the slack with the top cap bolt, then retighten. Worn shows up as indexing — let go of the bars at walking pace and they settle dead ahead, or you feel a click as they pass centre. That notching is dents hammered into the bearing races by riding with play, and no amount of preload brings it back.
What should I check when buying a used headset?
Turn each bearing between your fingers. It should feel smooth with a little grease drag, not gritty or catchy, and a brown tint or pitting on the race means water has sat in the head tube. Check the seals for splits and the bearing shields for a bent lip where someone has levered them out. Then make sure the crown race is included and not distorted, and ask which preload the top bolt threads into, because a star nut and a compression plug are not interchangeable and a headset sold without either needs parts you will have to source.
Do I need a new headset when I change forks?
Usually not — the bearings stay in the frame. The crown race, though, has to come off the old fork crown and go onto the new one, and it is a press fit that often gets bent or scored on the way off. Budget for a fresh crown race when you buy a used fork, and check the steerer is long enough for your head tube plus the stack you want.
Is a used headset worth buying?
Only if the bearings are good, because on an integrated headset the bearings are effectively the whole part. Sealed cartridges carry standard sizes stamped on the shield, so one with tired bearings and clean everything else can be revived cheaply, while one with pitted races and a chewed crown race is scrap. A new sealed headset from Odyssey, Éclat or Salt is inexpensive, so used mainly pays when it comes with a fork or inside a larger lot of BMX components.