Headset problems
warcraft1976corbett
Posts: 16
in Workshop
Hi, I recently got a road bike and everything seemed fine. I've been out on a couple of rides and ,last night, noticed the headset was pretty loose. After loosening the stem bolts, I attempted to tightened the headset bolt but it was already very tight.
Removed stem, spacers, etc and noticed:
1. The compressor wasn't fully seated in the steerer tube. I'm not sure if this is a big issue. I know someone has done that to support the spacer above the stem (and still leave a gap between it and the headset cap).
2. Theres a recessed split collar on the top headset bearing. On all my other bikes, this collar had a 'L' shaped cross section so there was very little upstaged from the bearing. This one has a lot of upstand (above the line of the head tube). The headset assembly has a shallow recess but its too shallow to prevent a gap between the top of the head tube and the headset assembly.
3. The collar is a slack fit in the bearing and a slack fit on the steerer tube so even it the gap wasn't there, I'd guess there's still scope for movement,
I did a bit of headset maintenance on my other bikes about 7 years ago, so I have a bit of knowledge but I'm confused how it was fine on delivery (no visible gaps or looseness) to have become loose without an obvious way of fixing it.
Removed stem, spacers, etc and noticed:
1. The compressor wasn't fully seated in the steerer tube. I'm not sure if this is a big issue. I know someone has done that to support the spacer above the stem (and still leave a gap between it and the headset cap).
2. Theres a recessed split collar on the top headset bearing. On all my other bikes, this collar had a 'L' shaped cross section so there was very little upstaged from the bearing. This one has a lot of upstand (above the line of the head tube). The headset assembly has a shallow recess but its too shallow to prevent a gap between the top of the head tube and the headset assembly.
3. The collar is a slack fit in the bearing and a slack fit on the steerer tube so even it the gap wasn't there, I'd guess there's still scope for movement,
I did a bit of headset maintenance on my other bikes about 7 years ago, so I have a bit of knowledge but I'm confused how it was fine on delivery (no visible gaps or looseness) to have become loose without an obvious way of fixing it.
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Comments
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Please ignore. Sorted it out.0
