Steering head bearings tightening

[Solon]

I keep re-tightening the steering head bearing and every few hundred km. or even every 30 km if riding in unpaved roads  , they redevelop a play and need to be re-tightened. I tightened the adjuster locknut very  strongly, but the same happened. The bearings seem still ok. Has anyone had that problem? How can I make them stay in place without using an adhesive for the locknut - I don't want to make it impossible to unscrew.

[rf9rider]

You only mention one locknut, i take it you have two nuts?

They shouldn`t come  loose if you lock them together correctly.

[Solon]

Yup, there are two, one to adjust preload and one to lock the adjuster. I tightened them correctly, I even overtightened the second one over the regular torque, just to keep them in place. No change, they still became loose 

[Solon]

Problem solved. The idiot who owned the bike before placed a wrong bearing instead of the regular angular one, so the balls inside were wearing out too quickly. Now with an angular bearing there should be no problem.

[Mustang]

Ummm....... the previous "idiot" was most likely triumph.
The earlier steamers used tapered top and bottom.
Later steamers like 98's used tapered bottom and top was a roller bearing.
The later ones can be retrofitted with top tapered bearing as you have discovered.

[Solon]

Thanks, Mustang. So it's called tapered bearing , not angular, I learned smth . My technical English isn't that good.
I'm sure you're right about the type of bearing Triumph used, but the former owner was an idiot anyway, because when he replaced the bearing, he used one with a one mm bigger outer diameter so he drilled a slightly bigger hole in the tube where it fits. So now an original size bearing no longer fits that hole, as it got bigger. I had to use a bearing with a smaller outer diameter than the original and use a steel adapter to fit the modified tube. Hard time finding the handyman to make that properly but it turned out right.

[Mustang]

Ok ...............he was an IDIOT