Ray Homiski wrote: This magnet suggestion can still be a challenge if you do not remove the fork properly. With the so called "loose ball bearings" you have to first set the bicycle upright to remove the top bearings in the head set. Then while holdiing the fork in place with your hand you need to flip the bike up side down to remove the bottom set of bearings. This keeps the bearings in the cups so you can retrieve them. If you remove the fork while the bike is still in the upright position, it will cause the bearings to drop out of the bottom cup and scatter them to the various black holes that seem to exist in all of our shops. But I guess you all knew this already. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Funny how so many of us develop our own approaches. Having removed bar and stem, and loosened the headset lock nut, I always next remove the front wheel and set the bike upside down. I then remove the locknut. Next, carefully back out the top race, which almost always carries all the balls with it. After it is safely in the cleaning juice, I make sure that the bike is tilted so no balls could find their way into top or down tubes, and very, very, slowly lift the fork away from the bottom race, where the balls like to stay. I do this while keeping the free hand under the top race, in case any balls try to drop through. Works for me, but maybe us lefties tend to do things upside down?
harvey sachs
mcLean va.