New carbon forks with steering problems
MonkeyMurphia
Posts: 32
I just bought a VN mistral titanium frame from fatbirds, who supplied ritchey WCS headset (fitted) and ITM visia carbon forks with alu crown and carbon steerer.
I had a pair of easton sl90 forks I was saving for the build and built the bike up. However when i rode the bike the easton forks were pulling left and right. Not huge amounts but enough to struggle with the steering to make the ride feel unsafe.
I removed the eastons and fitted the ITM visia's and the steering was perfect. The only difference was the ITM has an aluminium crown.
Since then the ITM fork steerer has chipped and cracked (due to an overzealous lbs who overtightened my stem - but thats another story) so I decided on getting a nice brand new pair of forks. I opted for the columbus carve (http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/carbon-ra ... forks.html) mainly because of the company's reputation and because the fork had an alu crown similar to the ITM.
However, the carve is having the same problem as the easton. It doesn't steer straight, its not that it wobbles but it pulls left and then when you correct it pulls right.
What the hell am I doing wrong? it must be a simple solution, the easton and columbus forks can't both be incompatible, surely?
please help...I can't go through getting another pair of forks!!
I had a pair of easton sl90 forks I was saving for the build and built the bike up. However when i rode the bike the easton forks were pulling left and right. Not huge amounts but enough to struggle with the steering to make the ride feel unsafe.
I removed the eastons and fitted the ITM visia's and the steering was perfect. The only difference was the ITM has an aluminium crown.
Since then the ITM fork steerer has chipped and cracked (due to an overzealous lbs who overtightened my stem - but thats another story) so I decided on getting a nice brand new pair of forks. I opted for the columbus carve (http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/carbon-ra ... forks.html) mainly because of the company's reputation and because the fork had an alu crown similar to the ITM.
However, the carve is having the same problem as the easton. It doesn't steer straight, its not that it wobbles but it pulls left and then when you correct it pulls right.
What the hell am I doing wrong? it must be a simple solution, the easton and columbus forks can't both be incompatible, surely?
please help...I can't go through getting another pair of forks!!
0
Comments
-
-
If i'm honest i'm not sure. the cartridge bearings seem to sit in the frame loose (so fall out when i remove the fork) and there was never anything i'd describe as a crown race installed between the bearings and any of the forks (including the forks Fatbirds supplied).
as i said it worked fine with the ITMs supplied, its the SL90 and Carve that have the same pulling issue.0 -
Try backing off the preload on the bearings by loosening the top cap. If there is too much preload it can cause steering issues.0
-
It really does sound like crown race issues.
I have columbus carve forks on a traditional headset. I had to hunt around for a crown race to use. The forks themselves are described as for integrated headsets so it could be to do with how deeply seated the bottom headset bearing is on integrated vs internal vs traditional headsets.
For me the most confusing thing was that on the stand the steering seemed fine, pushing the bike the steering was fine but only when riding did it feel "sticky".
I can remember the actual crown race I used to solve the problem, got a few on-line and used the one with the thickest base0 -
-
But the next person along with a similar problem now has more information0
