Rusty water and grinding?! Help

[Mushroomgodmat]

So, I just been outside cleaning my bike, adjusting gears and what not - while it in the bike stand I notice some brown rusty water running down the Forks - seems to be comming from inside the Head tube (?).
I then use the handle bars to turn the wheel and I can feel a gritty grinding. It's fairly minor, and I suspect I never noticed it before as the rumble from the road masked it.

My frame is aluminium and my forks are carbon

But I'm worried about it, it's clearly not right. Any idea what it is and what I can do about it?

 

[2Loose]

The bearings inside the headset are probably rusty. It is rare that they are packed with enough grease during assembly.

Cheap to fix as long as the headset itself hasn't developed dimples or notches...

 

[fossyant]

New bearings. Cheap if using cartridge bearings. Worth a trip to the LBS to find out which bearings it takes. Post a pic and we can help a little

 

[Mushroomgodmat]

Cheers guys. I assume of I remove the forks I'll be able to see what make/type of bearings they are, and I'll be able to take them to my local bike shop for replacment?

 

[accountantpete]

You could aways take them out and clean the bearings but if you want to replace them:

Assuming you don't have a tapered headset/steerer all you need do is remove the top cap and undo the stem bolts that attach it to the steerer and lift the bars and stem off. Remove any spacers and then with a bit of luck the cap over the headtube will just lift off revealing the bearings.

They will either be caged (held in a little metal ring)

or sealed (held between two metal rings with a seal over the top)

If the bearings are sealed then it's probably a send off via internet unless you have a big LBS. If they are caged then the LBS will have them loose - so take care not to damage the cage.

You will need two lots -top and bottom.