My headset comes loose after about 2 – 3 hours of riding. Is this a job for loctite? Any reason why I shouldn’t use loctite? Is it a symptom of something more serious?

Cheers, dang100

which headset, frame and fork?

not sure what you’d use the loctite on – it’s all supposed to be held together by the stem bolts wonce you get the thing preloaded with the top cap?

Is it a threaded or Ahead type headset?

Anyway, in either case, it sounds like there’s something more serious going on. Loctite can solve many of the world’s problems, but rarely this one…

It’s a 2006 Yeti 575. The headset is and Ahead set style one from Woodman Components (here: http://tinyurl.com/6ymrflg ) and the forks are RockShox Revelation (2006)

I was thinking of putting loctite on the bottom of the bolt that holds the top cap (i.e. the one you tighten to tighten the headset).

Cheers, dang100

you should have the stem clamp bolts tight enough to stop the headset coming loose – on a well setup system you can remove the top bolt altogether and it should be fine.

I’d take the stem off, degrease the inside of it and also the steerer tube then reassemble ‘dry’. Do the stem bolts up with a torque wrench to the manufacturers spec (i.e. fairly tight but not too tight) and see how you get on. You could loctite the stem clamp bolts, I guess.

I would try Finish Line Fiber Grip Carbon Fiber Assembly Gel, where the stem grips the steerer, for extra grippyness.

NOOOOOO

The top bolt is to compress the stem then the stem should kepp it all tight/in place. For it to be coming loose either you have installed it incorrectly or soemthing is broken – bearings worn /split lock ring thing wrongly located etc and it then compresses as you ride????

I would want to know what the issue is first.
Have you tightented the stem up enough?
To fit
Loosen stem bolts
tighten top cap – stem should just about move freely with pressure applies
Tighten stem bolts
Ride

mine does that, I’ve put it down to a possibly bent steerer tube but haven’t had a chance to swap forks yet as i’ve not got the right brake addapters.

The headset on my most recent cx bike was doing this – I tracked it down eventually to a missing preload washer, which of course is not available as a spare. However, on a positive note I now have spare bearings, crown race and cable hanger.

How long have you had the forks/headset? In the past i had a similar issue which came down to the crown race not being set properly on the steerer tube. May be worth looking into if you’ve changed either of the above recently.

This happend to me at Cwn Carn on Sunday.

The headset spacers where shite plastic ones ! One of them has split so each time I preloaded it the spacer just splayed out more.

Fixed it by putting a tie wrap round it till I finished the lap.
Now ordered some aluminium spacers from CRC.

*awaits card fraud*

Have you made sure the stem cap isn’t bottoming out on the top of the steerer? I only suggest it as it’s a really easy fix if that’s the case.

Take it all apart. Clean. Re-install. Often fixes it.

When you re-install, check you have enough spacers in to allow the top cap to tighten without grounding on the top of the steerer tube. Also check the star fangled nut isn’t creeping (I’ve had that before) by running some permanent marker pen round the inside of the steerer above the top-most SFN flange. If it comes loose again and the SFN has crept into the marker pen line, punch SFN out and install a new one.

Thanks for all the help and advice, guys. Looks like my other idea – duct tape – won´t work either.

I´ve tried loosening and re-tightening , the top cap rests on the stem not the steerer, the spacers are aluminium.

I´m not sure what else it could be. Unless too much of the stem is sticking out above the steerer so the stem isn´t gripping it properly. I think from memory the stem clears the steerer by about 5mm.

Also worth checking all the bearings. I´l do that too.

Are the cups loose in the frame, heard of another case of a Yeti having an over teamed headtube…………..?

Where is the top of the steerer in relation to the top clamp bolt on the stem?

If it is below or partially below the top bolt them you might need to use a lower spacer stack.

put a spacer above the stem – it’ll drop the stem down so it clamps better.

Take it to a bike shop and ask somebody who knows what they’re doing to tell you what’s wrong.

Take it to a bike shop and ask somebody who knows what they’re doing to tell you what’s wrong.

Now where’s the fun in that?

“Take it to a bike shop and ask somebody who knows what they’re doing to tell you what’s wrong.”

Why pay to have someone guess at whats wrong when you’ve got the internet?

Your bearings could be knackered headset components could be knackered stem could be crap. Has it always done this or is it a recent thing?

it’s a recent thing

Why pay to have someone guess at whats wrong when you’ve got the internet?

With the bike in front of them, any reasonably clue-up mechanic will almost certainly be able to say in a matter of seconds why the headset has a problem. It’s all well and good people just listing possibilities on the internets, but that requires that the person with the problem has at least a vague idea of what they have. Pardon me if I’m wrong, but that really doesn’t seem like the case here.

OK – done all of the above. Stripped and regreased the headset, put the stem lower so there´s a spacer on top and tightened it up. I was out on for 5 hours on Saturday and it stayed tight so it seems to have worked.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Dan