Tapered Headrace Top Bearing - Suzuki T 500 K 1973

On models that originally took cup and cone steering head bearings, upgrading to tapered headrace bearings is a popular and cost-effective choice. The ball bearings used in the original cup and cone have only two small points of contact on each ball bearing, which makes them more prone to failure than spreading the contact across the entire edge of a tapered bearing. Tapered bearings therefore last longer, and give better stability, than cup and cone bearings.

For some early (pre 1979) Suzuki Models:

When first upgrading from cup and cone to tapered bearings, on some models a modification may be required on the steering stem; please see below:

Stock Steering Stem	Modified Steering Stem
In order to install tapered bearings on early Suzuki models it may be neccessary to modify the steering stem as per the above sketches. When the stem is modified verify the bearing will slip into place.

A note from one of our customers (owner of a Suzuki GT 380):

"If you want to add a note to say that the stem is mild steel and is easy to reduce, I used a dremel grinder and then polished with fine emery paper."