Serviced bike, headset check

father_jack
father_jack Posts: 3,509
edited May 2011 in Workshop
Just taken bike apart, regreased and / or re-tightened

Pedals regreased treads
Chain bolts tightened to 10nm
Bottom bracket tightened and greased axle.
Cassette tightened
Headset (greased around bearing seals, metal/metal contacts)
Tightened fork top cap and stem to fork bolts and steam to handlebar (2 bolt) to 8nm- correct torque setting? Read stem to fork is 12nm

Had a bit of problem with fork, really need two people to hold it steady whilst you secure stem. Does this look ok? The headset top/bottom plate are very slightly different along the gap, is this ok? On the bottom on the fork the conical washer is against the bearing, not sure if it was any higher. Also there is a gap between the top of the stem (end cap) to top of the fork stem of about 1cm. Is this safe?

http://img860.imageshack.us/i/forke.jpg/
http://img855.imageshack.us/i/headsetr.jpg/
Say... That's a nice bike..
Trax T700 with Lew Racing Pro VT-1 ;-)

Comments

  • nferrar
    nferrar Posts: 2,511
    Hmm can't quite follow what you're saying but firstly you shouldn't need two people to put the front end of a bike back together. I take it it's an aheadset type stem not a quill? It just sounds to me like you've tightened up the stem before pre-loading the headset with the top cap. Is there any movement up and down on the fork?

    Looks a pretty big gap on your crown race to (forke.jpg) but some models can look like that. Your last sentence I'm not following but maybe I'm reading it wrong...
  • father_jack
    father_jack Posts: 3,509
    When you take the fork top cap off, there is a gap between top of fork and top of stem.

    There is no movement up or down, I tightened the top cap just until the steering got tight, then loosened a tiny bit, then tightened up stem, then retightened top cap.
    Say... That's a nice bike..
    Trax T700 with Lew Racing Pro VT-1 ;-)
  • rubbernekker
    rubbernekker Posts: 112
    How big is the gap between the fork steerer and the top of the stem? 3mm is usual.

    The top of the steerer should be higher than the top bolt on the stem.
  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    Those torque values seem very High 12Nm for stem clamp to Steerer is far to high in my opinion. Im assuming its not Carbon otherwise you would have heard it crack.

    The use of a torque wrench is beneficial but dont get to hung up on the values they are often maximums anyway. For stuff like bars and stems tighten until no movement or play why go further than that, but doing it with torque wrench ensures you dont over torque the bolts in the process.

    My stem to bars is 6Nm and stem to carbon steerer is at 4Nm