Pressed in a Superstar tapered headset last night, went in fine and easily up till right at the last minute. There is a very small (maybe 0.5mm) gap between headset and lip of the headtube. Any other C456 owners had this problem?

Could be i’m not using enough brute force and ignorance.. but id feels like any more force would be more than it should need. I’m still scared of over torquing anything with carbon near it.

I’m guessing there could be a bit of a radius on the lip of the headset cup which is causing it as the gap is equal all the way round and on both cups, but the problem with it now is I don’t see any way of easily getting the headset out. Top cup should come out fine with a removal tool, but the bottom cup sits up against the internal lip of the headtube insert – I can’t see any way of the cup remover getting any purchase on it, and I don’t have a 1.5″ removal tool to try.

Anybody removed a lower cup from one of these frames without destroying anything? Or should I just smack it with a hammer until it sits flush… 😉

There was a recent thread about removing cups from a 456, I think PeterPoddy started it. Have a search.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-how-does-one-get-this-out

Looks like the frame manufacturers recommendation is to use a vice – though there is a high chance this will destroy the headset cup.

I had a look first but couldn’t find anything – will delve a bit deeper.

vice to remove the headset is the official version from on-one. it will destroy the cup.

you can try twatting it with a hammer until it’s flush. Maybe the cup is deeper than the machined part of the headtube sleeve though?

you can try twatting it with a hammer until it’s flush

I know this is the standard STW method but I’d recommend using a headset press.

Is the headset is already up against the wider part of the head tube inner?

I know this is the standard STW method but I’d recommend using a headset press.

where’s the adrenalin rush in that 😉

Yeah, it’s up but not quite flush. There’s probably enough purchase to drive it out with a screwdriver so might try that. It’s a brand new headset (and frame) so i’d rather not go down the destructive route, especially as if a vice will essentially deform the cup, what’s it going to do to the soft aluminium insert and carbon it’s bonded to?

I am pressing it with the cheaper park press, it’s the pressing that’s got it this far. Maybe I just should force it to twist a bit more. It’s not helping that I have to use the extension washer as i’m sure that’s making it less straight and makes it harder to turn, but using the cheap press the handle fouls on the top/downtube when you get close to the end. Wouldn’t be an issue with the angled arms on the £150 press…!

Sounds like it’s gone as far as it’s going to. If it’s in all but 0.5mm you could try using threaded rod plus nuts, washers and lumps of wood or similar to finish the job. If that doesn’t do it then I’d be asking a friendly shop to help remove it and replace it with something that fits

Using a headset press I’ve just fitted a brand new one of the below in a brand new 18″ carbon 456 no problems and both cups are completely flush with the headtube with no gap.

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=425

HTH

I had the same problem when fitting a Hope headset to my C456 last year, no matter how hard I hit it it never went all the way. Eventually gave up with brute force as I could imagine the headtube exploding if I kept on pounding it with the hammer.

I left it with the small gap and it has been fine, used the bike for everything including big mountain rides and have not had any issues with it.

How deep was the headset cup? The Smoothie headset is very deep (like, downhill-headset deep) so you’d expect most other headsets to fit fine.

Ive not had a go at removing a headset from the C456 yet but am aware of the issue with doing so. First thing I’d try would be a toggle bolt..

Ride it. If it doesn’t seat it’ll be fine, if it does seat then you’ll notice the loose headset and tighten it up.

Nealy – yep same one. Did you have to shave anything off the headtube? A reviewer on the SS site mentions radiusing the corners on the headtube slightly to allow for a bit of chamfer on the cup.

Nealy – yep same one. Did you have to shave anything off the headtube? A reviewer on the SS site mentions radiusing the corners on the headtube slightly to allow for a bit of chamfer on the cup.

Nope I didn’t modify anything, just greased the headtube insert and cups with copper grease and pressed them in. Looking at the SSC cups (below) they are square rather than having a chamfer. There is only a couple of mm gap between the top of the cup and the lip of the insert on the lower cup.

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/images/Tapertech-EX.jpg

As above, nip up your stem bolt, take it for a ride, if it doesn’t move your sorted, if it loosens off a bit, nip it up a bit more. Repeat as many times as necessary!

What daveh^ says.