Steering Head Bearings

I'm pretty sure I need to replace the steering head bearings on my 06' R6.  I followed the service manual's instruction for checking and tightening them which didn't work, then I paid a local shop 50 bucks to do it, which only made them a little better.  I can still feel some slop when I'm braking, or if I purposely hold the brake and push back and forth.  I've heard about All Balls kits, but was wondering if anyone knows what racers use, as that is what I intend to do with this bike.  

Most racers just use the stock steering head bearing set. There's really no reason to go with tapered roller or ceramic ball bearings in the steering head, as the stock bearings are durable and work fine for the intended task.

The popularity of tapered roller bearings for the steering head was big in the '70s and '80s, when the poor quality of the stock loose ball bearings and races made them wear out quickly. That's no longer the case now, with most manufacturers using good quality caged bearings/races that work well.

If you have carefully checked and tightened the bearings according to the service manual and you're sure the slop is in the steering head (sometimes the slop is caused by worn bushings in the fork tubes), it's likely the bearing races have been notched or slightly dislodged by abuse such as wheelies/stoppies, etc. If you have the tools, we'd just replace them with some stock replacement bearings/races.  

Interesting.  You know, I kind of found it hard to believe the kid at the shop who told me that the stock bearings were of poor quality and that I should go with the aftermarket set.  I thought to myself, "why would a manufacturer do that with all the other high performance parts that are on the bike"?  Well, I definitely don't do stoppies, and the front end has come up on me only a couple of times, so possibly the previous owner was doing that stuff.  I bought the bike from a used dealer and the title was from an out of state bank.  The bike only had 650 miles on it when I bought it.  Now it has about 2500.  Other than the loose steering head, the other issue was a leaking clutch cover which, after replacing the gasket and having it continue to leak, I've determined to be the cover itself which must've been cracked from over-tightening.  Other than those two things, the bike seems mint.  I changed the oil/filter when I bought it, and am about to do another oil change when I replace the clutch cover.  I temp. fixed the leak with a small amount of liquid gasket around the bolt where it was leaking near.  I don't know, I was almost considering trying to get my 6k back and just buy a brand new r6 or zx6r so I wouldn't have to deal with it, but it's been good experience working on this one!  

Good for you on learning how to work on your own bike! Despite the many "professional motorcycle mechanic" schools and graduates, there are many dealerships and shops employing people with much less than adequate knowledge and skills. Too many of these people think that "proper torque" means "crankin' her down until you can't turn anymore". And just FYI, it's possible to warp an engine cover (resulting in leakage) without cracking it by over-torquing.

Another thought: over-torquing the steering head bearings can cause notching/grooving in the bearing races, resulting in some of the slop you feel.