Changing stem

woodytitan

I have ordered a 70mm stem for the Cannondale, how easy is it too change and what tools would I need??
Should i attempt or let the lbs take care of it??

Thanks in advance.

thegiantbiker

All you'll need is two allen keys (4mm and 5mm from memory).

Remove the top cap, loosen stem bolts on steerer tube, slide off stem. Undo bolts on faceplate, remove bars.

Do the reverse to put it back on, but tighten down the top cap a bit before you tighten the stem's bolts on the steerer tube (this ensures the stem and spacers are compressed down properly).

supersonic

It adjusts the headset - there is more to it than tightening it a bit lol, you have to preload the bearings. See Park Tools for a guide.

thegiantbiker

Ok, didn't know that, when I first had to do it, the instructions I used didn't really have any explainers, it just told me what to do. Seems to have worked every time though.

ilovedirt

supersonic wrote:

It adjusts the headset - there is more to it than tightening it a bit lol, you have to preload the bearings. See Park Tools for a guide.

Not really, just tighten it til there's no play, it doesn't take a genius.

Ouija

Don't overtighten it, it'll crush your bearings. Just snug it up so that the forks don't rock back and forth with the front brake activated. Then line up and tighten the stem bolts. After that the top cap screw is no longer doing anything (it's the clamped stem that is now maintaining the correct pressure on the two sets of headset bearings). Some people even remove the top cap after it's done it's job (there are various things you can plug in there afterwards if your into blinging up your bike).

cooldad

Ouija wrote:

Some people even remove the top cap after it's done it's job (there are various things you can plug in there afterwards if your into blinging up your bike).

Why would anyone remove it and stick something else in there, seems a bit pointless, especially as it's handy to have if you need to tweek.

Ouija

cooldad wrote:

Ouija wrote:

Some people even remove the top cap after it's done it's job (there are various things you can plug in there afterwards if your into blinging up your bike).

Why would anyone remove it and stick something else in there, seems a bit pointless, especially as it's handy to have if you need to tweek.

Well, there are other ways of setting the initial tension on the bearings that don't require internal caps and are somewhat easier to use. But after setting initial bearing tension with a top cap (or alternative) some people take the cap off and put all sorts of weird and wonderful doohickeys on there from Compasses, Pressure/Barometers, Clocks, Computers, Battery Cells for externally powered lights and mounts for various other stuff you'd normally find on the handlebar. Put a bung on the bottom of the steerer and you can store all sorts of stuff in your stem from roll up maps to refuse sack thin ponchos, first aid kits etc. Shit, i even took the compression bung out of the top afterwards once and stored some energy drinks packs down there and then stuck the bung and top cap back on to keep it all dry.

cooldad

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr OK.

Chunkers1980

Crush bearings?

Ruin the race more like it.

I sometmes store a powerlink under my top cap.

supersonic

ilovedirt wrote:

supersonic wrote:

It adjusts the headset - there is more to it than tightening it a bit lol, you have to preload the bearings. See Park Tools for a guide.

Not really, just tighten it til there's no play, it doesn't take a genius.

Feeling for play is not always straightforward, especially if there is play in your forks or brakes - and you certainly don't want to overtighten. I see far too many people with incorrectly adjusted headsets because they simply tigten the top cap without knowing what it is for.

Ouija

supersonic wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

supersonic wrote:

It adjusts the headset - there is more to it than tightening it a bit lol, you have to preload the bearings. See Park Tools for a guide.

Not really, just tighten it til there's no play, it doesn't take a genius.

Feeling for play is not always straightforward, especially if there is play in your forks or brakes - and you certainly don't want to overtighten. I see far too many people with incorrectly adjusted headsets because they simply tigten the top cap without knowing what it is for.

There will always be a group of people who think the best thing to do with anything that requires tensioning is to tighten it as much as they can, from top caps to bottom brackets to quick release skewers and so on... Typically because they have a fear that something might come loose so figure the best thing to do to stop that is just crank it to the max and "it'll be right". Well... it may not come loose, but it probably wont last long before it needs replacing.

ilovedirt

Chunkers1980 wrote:

I sometmes store a powerlink under my top cap.

That's actually quite a good idea!

woodytitan

Thanks for all the replies, greatly appreciated. As someone who has snapped a qr skewer through overtightening i think i'll leave it to the lbs, the Dale's due for a service at end of the month anyway, might try hang about and see how they do it.

Again, comments appreciated. Woody

The Rookie

It's really not that hard, nip up the top cap bolt and feel for any play in the headset bearing (i finger against the crow and headtube/lower seat as you rock the bike against the braks, any play and tighten a SMALL amount and repeat until it's gone, then tighten the stem bolts.

Simon

woodytitan

Me again, got the stem just waiting on some spacers as not same size as one coming off, ref spacers do they nueed greasing up before going on?? Might sound like a daft question but wouldn't as unless i didn't know!!!
And yes I am gonna do it myself, this weekend hopefully!

1mancity2

No grease needed, got loads of spacer if you need any.

mherbie

No need to grease the spacers.

HTH

Ouija

mherbie wrote:

No need to grease the spacers.

HTH

Would of agreed with that a couple of weeks ago. But noticed my steel steerer and the innards of my headset were starting to rust up from all the riding in the rain i've done recently. So cleaned and sanded it all back down and greased the the top and bottom edge of the spacers to stop water worming its way in via that route (also put a compression bung on the bottom of the steerer tube to stop water spraying up the inside of it from the front wheel). Just don't put grease on the part of the steerer where the stem is clamping to (for obvious reasons).