Handlebar Cap

jamescrampton17

Hi, just started to play and around and adjust my handlebar height by re-ordering the different the spacers. However when I come to put the top cap and tighten it up, for some reason the cap doesn't sit square and true with the spacers beneath it, and is off at a slight angle. Any idea why this might be? attached are pictures.

reaperactual

It's possible the forks have dropped down a little and aren't sitting properly at the bottom headset assembly. The whole angle of the steerer looks off within the headtube.

Is the star fangled nut set into the steerer straight?

There should also only be around a 2-3mm gap between the top of steerer tube and top of highest spacer.

I would start at the bottom and double check it's all seated properly, bearings are all in place especially if loose bearing headset.

jamescrampton17

The gap between top of steerer tube and top of spacer is roughly 2/3mm so that's fine. and yeah the star nut seems to be straight.

Would this have something to do with the steerer tube being tapered? so there's movement of the spacers at the top of the tube vs the bottom where there would be no movement (as the steerer is wider here)?

reaperactual

The bottom assembly is sized to fit the 1.5" tapered section of the steerer tube. The top assembly is sized to fit the 1,1/8 non tapered section so both ends should be a snug fit.

It just seems that the problem lies with how the forks are seated on bottom assembly and the top section is showing the effects of the whole steerer not being centred.

The last picture looks deceiving as the gap seems much bigger than 2-3mm and also looks like the steerer is lower than the second spacer on the left hand side but not the right side.

I would imagine that visually the whole steerer tube won't look straight.

Are the bearings cartridge type or loose bearings at the bottom assembly. I had a similar thing in the past caused by one of the loose bearings getting dislodged out it's usual position as I pushed up the forks through the headtube but it was very obvious when this happened.

How does it look and feel when you steer the handlebars, straight, square and smooth with no resistance?

jamescrampton17

yeah the steering has felt smooth with no noticeable resistance.


Im pretty sure they're the cartridge type, but I won't know for sure until I have a proper look tomorrow.

I did notice that having taken off the handlebars/stem/spacers, there was a small amount of play backward/forwards when moving the steerer .

reaperactual

The play is normal. When all is back in place and you pre load the headset using the top cap the play will stop and when you then tighten the stem bolts it will stay that way.

jamescrampton17

Yeah just checked the bearing and it's cartridge style. I put everything back together making sure everything was flush and the problem still persists.

I had another thought, maybe the star finagled nut isn't in straight in the steerer tube? Because you can see the bolt doesn't sit straight after only a few turns

reaperactual

On your fourth pic on original post the star nut appears straight so is the steerer tube also cut straight and square? Is the fork crown race sitting flush and the same with the top assembly compression ring?

mfin

Just screw the bolt into the star nut a few turns, without the cap and spacers. Look at it from all sides and from the top. Does the bolt sit up nice and centrally like it should or not? You'll be able to tell in seconds. My guess is the star nut is not sat straight and that the bolt will look completely 'on the piss', but doing this will confirm it straight away.