Usually only buy bits and bobs from LBS. Prefer to do all my own spannering usually.

However, road/gravel bike needed a new headset and with it being carbon and one of the new fangled integrated headsets I thought i would drop with the LBS to make sure I didn’t order the wrong thing.
Brought it home Friday and placed it in storage. Was pottering around in the bike cave and notices approximately 5mm gap between bottom of the steerer and fork crown. Was certainly not there before. I am not going to start taking things apart as I will drop it back for a “please explain” just wondering what they have done? My bet is a set of generic bearings and not changing the crown race.
I did specifically ask for a good quality one to be fitted.

What is your money on?

I’ll go with bearings either fitted upside down and/or the top set fitted in the bottom and vice versa.

or they fitted bearings that are not the right angle. Is it a particularly obscure frame that you could not find details of the headset for it ?

Kerley- it is a Norco Search. I looked on the Cane Creek database and they have an upper and lower listed. However was not 100% confident. Miss the days of the only choices being which colour of Hope to buy.

Complete Headset S.H.I.S.
Upper Headset Fit
IS 42 / 28.6

Upper Headset Type Upper Head-tube Type Stem Clamp Diameter

Lower Headset Fit
IS 52 / 40

Lower Headset Type Lower Head-tube Type Crown Race Seat Diameter Bearing Seat Angle

Is it not possible they’ve just forgot to put a spacer in the top as a small one of them would be 3/5mm?

That’s a bog standard tapered integrated headset, quite hard to get wrong. Can you post a photo?

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Used to sit right down with a negligible gap

Crown race not fully seated properly on the forks?

To me they haven’t changed the crown race and the new headset is a different angle to the old one. Shoddy. If one of my mechanics did that they’d be up for a bollocking as it’s just lazy.

The crown race looks seated properly but I wonder if it’s the wrong type of race and lower bearing entirely. Is52 has a taper like this

That looks to have a step on it, perhaps it’s for zero stack type

Only way to be sure is to disassemble it

Long weekend here so I wont be able to get it back to the shop before Wednesday. Can’t ride anyway due to a knee injury so will update you all then.

They haven’t fitted a new crown race without removing the old one have they ?

I recon theyve left the old crown race on (because changing the bearings only is a 10 min job at best) without realising the old headset was a 30degree job and the new one is 45 degs (or visa versa)

Dropped it off this morning. Here in Victoria it is usually a long weekend as the whole place shuts down for a horse race on the Tuesday. Thought the LBS would be shut but was open with a skeleton staff.

Dropped the bike off. The bloke I normally deal with was not there but one of the others agreed that something was not right and took the bike into the workshop. I suppose I will hear from them in due course. Not that fussed as I cant ride due to poorly knee anyway.