How timely.
I have 43k miles and just finished replacing the steering bearings yesterday. Handling was getting slowly worse / vague culminating in pulling over to make sure my front tire was not low on air (it wasn't). On the centerstand with the front wheel off the ground, I had a very, very, noticeable detent moving the bars back and forth thru center. I'd guess it took a a pound or two of force to move the bars out of the detent.
First test ride today and it's like a different machine. Handling feels brand new.
I was really surprised how good the old bearings looked. There was a lot of rust and sand in there and I assumed the bearings were going to be completely trashed. After cleaning everything up I was surprised to find only very light witness marks from the rollers in the outer races - can't even hook a finger nail on them. The cages rotated by hand with no slop. The inner race of the lower bearing also looks/ feels great (upper bearing still intact, so no clue). I can't square the good visual condition of the bearings with the horrible detent.
The is the first maintenance they've received, as I didn't have a 36mm socket to get the big nut off, and I couldn't budge it with an adjustable wrench.
It's very worth doing, and it's not that hard for a competent shade-tree mechanic if you take your time and invest in a few tools. I got the 36mm socket for $8, the spanner for torquing the castellated nuts for $22, and the bearings for $32.
The whole process from start to finish took about 4 or 5 hours, but I'm not a pro. I removed the windshield, handlebars, top triple tree, front wheel, brake calipers, fender, forks, horn and the little bracket bolted to the front of the lower triple tree to get access, and there's more time in all that than there is in doing the bearing job itself.
Driving the races out of the frame takes only a few minutes, as does driving the new ones in. Packing the bearings and re-assembly is only a few minutes each. The wildcard is getting the lower bearing off the shaft. I ended up having to cut it off after failing miserably at being able to drive it off with a hammer and punch/ screwdriver/ cold chisel, each of which just broke pieces off the lip of the bearing.
Sorry for length. Just all fresh in my mind having just done it yesterday.