Creaking possibly headset!

lbalony

I blame Evans but...


The bike is 6 month old and been nothing but problem after problem. Finally got them all ironed out, or so I thought. I was at Stainburn and when climbing getting this dreaded intermittent creak. Nothing too bad though. The week after I was on my local loop and right from the word go it was badly creaking, even on the flat. Or thought we presumed it was the headset.

I took the headset out, removed the bearings, cups, seals etc and degreased. Reassembled with more grease. I did not notice any rusty bearing or mucky water. All seemed ok. I lost one bb though, i tested it and seems fine. But will it do any harm having one missing?

I have tested the bike lightly in the street and no noise as of yet.

Suppose my question is;

Was it the headset, what else could it be in this area?

Also on gaining a new one I like the Chris King ones or Hope, just due to looks and writeups. But mine sits inside the steerer tube. If I fitted one of these, would it make the front end higher altering the geometry aswell as onbiously lengthing the steerer tube?

Barrelmaker

If you were to get a new headset you can just buy a zero stack that fits inside the headtube so it will retain the same geometry. I have a hope one and its been fine, sealed cartridge bearings as well so no messing with ball bearings.

ej2320

Don't blame evans, creaks are standard with a poor headset.. I have a cheap headset and boy does it creak even after stripping

It may seem basic but are you sure it's the headset? A lot of the time a creak travels through the frame so sound like its somewhere it isn't

Check you bars and stem
Tighten all the bolts to the correct torque
That sometimes helps

lbalony

ej2320 wrote:

Don't blame evans, creaks are standard with a poor headset.. I have a cheap headset and boy does it creak even after stripping

It may seem basic but are you sure it's the headset? A lot of the time a creak travels through the frame so sound like its somewhere it isn't

Check you bars and stem
Tighten all the bolts to the correct torque
That sometimes helps

Thanks, i am not sure but I will soon find out if getting out tomorrow. I dont blame Evans for this but everything else has been their fault. I now realise the importance of using your LBS. I have checked and tightened/torqued everything at the front end at the same time. Probably a mistake as if it is cured, could not be 100% that it was the headset.

What about the missing bb? Worry or not?

lbalony

Barrelmaker wrote:

If you were to get a new headset you can just buy a zero stack that fits inside the headtube so it will retain the same geometry. I have a hope one and its been fine, sealed cartridge bearings as well so no messing with ball bearings.

Can you get a zero stack for the bottom but showing for the top? A bit ghey but like the look of them?

anj132

I blame wiggle

Barrelmaker

If you were to go for a hope headset you could pick and mix it , so you could have an exposed top bearing.

The Rookie

Yes the missing bb matters....

Ssscrudddy

I bought a second hand bike & had a really creaky headset (along with everything else). Anyway everything got dismantled & cleaned & lubed.

The headset was full of WD40. It also had a few missing ball bearings from the supposedly sealed cartridge. Anyway that all got cleaned & greased, replaced the bbs. Sitll had a really bad creak from the headset. Eventually I replaced it all with new bits.

Still had a really bad creaks from the headset.

Eventually, the only bit I hadnt done was the saddle. I squirted some 3 in 1 oil int the saddle where the bits of metal go into it. Hey presto no more creak. It wasnt the damned headset afer all!