is this normal? headset felt loose last night, but pulling at everything at the front (bars/stem/forks etc) and no movement

it felt loose/rocking when descending but no movement/play when stationary, has it just settled inside or similar?

never really had to adjust a headset from new before but hopefully thats all it is

you sure if definitely not your brake pads moving within the caliper? my zee brakes give a slight rocking effect

I’ve always found headsets ‘settle in’ a bit during the first couple of rides and need nipping up.

its on about its 4th or 5th ride from fitting from new, cant say as rotating the bars the bearings feel rough so hopefully its not them knackered so quickly

and brake pads no, but i kind of thought maybe my caliper was loose (thats what it felt like when braking harshly like the caliper was rocking etc), but nope nice and tight and nothings changed brake pad wise

it was running fine on saturday may i add, the only thing ive done since then is wash it!

i will re-adjust it then and hopefully it will cure it, it just felt loose and rattly descending, but pushing down stationary on the bars it felt fine too

Did it come with a crown race?

sounds fairly normal, although not in every case. Worth a double check that there’s still clearance between top of steerer and top of stem (or spacers)

I had the same thing happen to mine. I had a LBS install it and had to tighten it sooo much to stop it coming loose. In the end I stripped it down and removed one of the spacers/shims, tightened to what I normal tighten headsets too and its now fine. No idea why one shim would make that much of a difference, but it did.

simon – that’s good to know thanks give you will see a lot of hope headsets 😉

maybe a bit of water ingress or similar from washing it etc has caused it to loosed (long shot), Ill adjust it again and go from there, its not the forks as they are still buttery smooth when stationary (which given my track record with pikes is good news!)

cheers folks

and yep crown race is all hope stuff with the seal on…sure it just needs adjusting again

Could be parts bedding in against each other a little, or could be a little movement on the steerer too… Hope aren’t anything special really but they last as well as most headsets do, so if it’s gone off so fast something’s wrong…

I’ve had this with almost all the headsets I’ve had and just put it down to parts bedding in under pressure. Normally a quick tighten is enough.

cheers folks, will give it a try hopefully its the cause, it was fine 2 days ago and not touched since (apart from washing) so maybe its just settled in and needs re-adjusting

op – sorry for hijack, but did you ever get to the bottom of the creak on your Spesh Phenom saddle ? I have just fitetd one and same issue.

/ hijack 🙂

Thanks

Not sure if it makes a difference but I always fit the crown race with the split to the side. The majority of load on a headset is front and back so I want the split away from the load path.

ianc – yeh I took it back and got it replaced 😆 I think I sold the new one and went back to a gobi xm tbh

maybe a bit of water ingress or similar from washing it etc has caused it to loosed (long shot),

Horizon shot…

These things last for ever, I’d stab a guess that it wasn’t installed correctly – too tight / too loose.

I didn’t install it tbf, the lbs did and they are usually spot on, br its also felt fine for the last 3-4 rides also, maybe its just worked a bit loose/settled etc so ill readjust it and hopefully it will feel good again

I’ve been having the same thing with a Hope headset – hopefully it’s just the bearings sorting themselves out. Needed tightening up pre-ride last night and then mid-ride.

ill be testing mine again tonight so will report back to see if its worked or not…if its not then ive no idea what it is, but it does feel like a headset is loose inside

but im just puzzled that its not loose to pull at anywhere….

Could it be fork bushings on their way out? Possibly a similar sensation?

alanf, brand new forks (well 1 month old max)

so to update, forks felt absolutely fine again last night, guess it was the headset that had settled

I only did it quickly before setting off, so will do it again properly tonight, but it defo was fine after the tweak which is good news

never had that before, but glad its nothing to do with the forks

I had the same problem. My head doctor wasn’t tight enough in the steerer tube and rode up do that there was no gap between it and the top of the steerer tube. So no matter how much preload I put into the top cap, the headset never stayed tight. I had to remove the top cap, move the head doctor down to the normal depth (and do it up TIGHT) then reinstall the top cap. Been fine since.