constant headset woes advice needed

buder
buder Posts: 154
edited June 2011 in Workshop
Afternoon all,

Just after some advice regarding my iintegrated headset issues.

Bike has done around 400 miles now from new and I find I constantly have to re-adjust to stop an irritating clicking noise that seems to develop every 2 rides or so.

Its when I pull up on the bars I hear a clicking going on from the stem area. I re-adjust preload and torque the stem up using my torque wrench noise disappears but then returns and I go through the whole scenario again.

Am I not applying enough pre-load or something, the stem is not moving and I torque it to 4Nm on my carbon steerer. The headset has been removed cleaned and re-greased, whats confusing me is whether the noise is caused by the stem clamp bolts to steerer or the actual headset. I have sufficient clearance by the way of a spacer above the stem to apply enough pre-load but am conservative so maybe I need to crank it up more than I have been ?. its not the stem to bars interface as readjustment of the headset solves the problem for a short while.

Thanks

Comments

  • Berk Bonebonce
    Berk Bonebonce Posts: 1,245
    Creaking sounds are not uncommon and do not mean that something is wrong. You often get them with carbon/aluminium mix forks that have been bonded together.
  • marin_maniac
    marin_maniac Posts: 513
    You wouldn't happen to have a Boardman would you?
  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    It's a planet x

    A few club members said exacty that regarding it's just a noise don't worry, but its bugging me and re doing the stem and headset pre load cures it so something is wrong surely.
  • gaddster
    gaddster Posts: 401
    Got many spacers below stem?
    ARTHUR
    "Hello oh great one"
    LARRY
    "Are you talking to me or my ass?"
  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    Have got one 15mm spacer below and a 5mm above
  • marin_maniac
    marin_maniac Posts: 513
    Check that you haven't got any lateral play in your front wheel. I had a similar problem and found that I had play in the front hub. Did the quick release up
    A bit tighter and problem solved.
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Could be a whole host of things:
    Valve stem clicking against the rim on each revolution?
    Fork steerer bung not tight enough?
    Wheel QR too tight / not tight enough?
    Play in headset bearings i.e. worn bearing seats in frame (less likely given age of frame)
    Dirt between bars / stem interface

    I'd strip the front-end of the bike down. clean all surfaces, apply friction paste and re-assemble
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • Bar Shaker
    Bar Shaker Posts: 2,313
    My Boardman road bike has developed this in the last few rides. It's definitely from the head set and moving my hands closer to the stem means the clicking stops. Out of the saddle, it goes berserk.

    I plan to strip the front down, clean and then grease everything. Am I OK to use a liberal coating of white spray grease or should I get something specific?

    How can I check the bearings for wear? It has a small sealed unit below the spacers. Is there a bearing race at the bottom too? Or is it just better to replace these each year (done just over 1k miles).

    Also, what torque should I put on the pre tension bolt? The stem is marked 5nm but I don't remember seeing a torque for the pre tension bolt.

    I have just changed my wheels and this made no difference to the clicking, so it's definitely head set related.

    TIA.
    Boardman Elite SLR 9.2S
    Boardman FS Pro
  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    Monty Dog wrote:
    Could be a whole host of things:
    Valve stem clicking against the rim on each revolution?
    Fork steerer bung not tight enough?
    Wheel QR too tight / not tight enough?
    Play in headset bearings i.e. worn bearing seats in frame (less likely given age of frame)
    Dirt between bars / stem interface

    I'd strip the front-end of the bike down. clean all surfaces, apply friction paste and re-assemble

    Its the stem and or headset as I can remove the noise by re-adjusting the pre-load.

    what I dont know is if its the stem clamp bolts loosening slightly or the headset.

    Either way ive had the whole front out tried new forks, new stem, new spacers, serviced the new headset in the way of fresh grease etc still clicking will appear until I loosen stem bolts and do again.

    Only thing I haven't tried is a new headset
  • I have a px and it does exactly the same thing. Sort of a knocking noise. I tried all the above solutions but could never get rid of it.

    Same as you, once I'd adjusted the preload the noise would go away for a couple of rides but then reappear.

    My lbs stripped it down and reassembled. So far so good but there has been the odd creak. Mainly when I'm out of the sadlle.

    Good luck but at the end of the day don't worry about it too much.
  • One thing you could try and it cured a problem i had with my headset clicking or rocking is strip down and clean amd re grease.

    Then tighten the stem bolts so that you can just barely move the bars from side to side. You know like if your bars have moved and your straightening them. Now with force and pushing down hard, move them from side to side finishing with them aligned straight in line with the front wheel. Finish torquing up.

    This use to solve the problem on my mercian with carbon forks.

    Not sure how but it just seemed to give it that final seating it needed.
    Its bloody annoying when you get clicking
  • Perhaps the lower bearing race is not fully seated in the frame and is still working its way in?
    Would explain why the noise stops when you preload it again.
  • jimmcdonnell
    jimmcdonnell Posts: 328
    On my Litespeed's carbon steerer tube this was caused by the steerer bung not being quite tight enough, and gradually loosening every few rides. On inspection the bung was mashed and rubbish anyway, stripped/cleaned/replaced it with a much better CNC'd one, not a dodgy 'click' since.

    What does the front end feel like if you put the front brake on and rock the bike back&forth?
    Litespeed Tuscany, Hope/Open Pro, Ultegra, pulling an Extrawheel trailer, often as not.

    FCR 4 (I think?)
    Twitter: @jimjmcdonnell
  • Bar Shaker
    Bar Shaker Posts: 2,313
    That's interesting Jim.

    Any idea what the bung torque is? I would worry about splitting the carbon steerer tube if I over tightened it.

    But hold on, surely the bung tension won't matter once the stem is tightened.
    Boardman Elite SLR 9.2S
    Boardman FS Pro
  • buder
    buder Posts: 154
    On my Litespeed's carbon steerer tube this was caused by the steerer bung not being quite tight enough, and gradually loosening every few rides. On inspection the bung was mashed and rubbish anyway, stripped/cleaned/replaced it with a much better CNC'd one, not a dodgy 'click' since.

    What does the front end feel like if you put the front brake on and rock the bike back&forth?

    This is interesting, I have a long expansion plug which I have had out and cleaned, it does slip, so I need to torque it up tight to stop it slipping. My bung torque suggests 8Nm max, I only tighten this until its doesn't slip rather than torque to that value which is overkill or crush torque I would imagine.

    I agree with Bar Shaker, I wouldn't expect any noise from this once the stem is torqued to lock the pre-load in place as its done its primary job in all honesty.

    I think its an issue with the bearing race and how its seated, I can sort of live with the noise aslong as im confident its not safety related in which is why it worries me.

    Thanks