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  • 1" Quill stem threaded headset question
  • Jakester
    Free Member

    Afternoon all.

    I have recently been asked by my better half to move her basket from one bike to the other. The recipient bike already had one on there, which needed to be removed.

    It was partially held on by a bracket which fitted under the locking top nut of the headset, which is a threaded 1″ type for use with a quill stem.

    I removed the quill stem, and unbolted the top nut. There was a lock nut under there which was tricky to get off, as it appeared to have ben slightly cross-threaded in the past (by a previous owner, I hasten to add!).

    Anyway, I removed the bracket, and went to reinstall the locking nut and the top nut, but whatever I tried, I couldn’t get the locking nut to screw down to the top of the headset – there was about 3 – 4mm of thread between the bottom of the nut and the top cup of the headset. In order to put it all back together, I used a couple of 1 1/8″ headset spacers with plastic inserts to space them out from the stem, and then used the threaded top nut to bolt it all down.

    Am I (is she) going to die? The quill stem is securely fastened into the steerer and it seems to me that the headset is well locked down.

    Any thoughts?

    Posted 7 years ago
    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    The headset and the stem are two separate items on a quill setup so it’ll be fine, but the headset might come loose.

    There are several different threads on 1″ headsets though, so the odds are someone’s put the wrong nut on it, that or the nut has a lip on the inside which is meant to cover the top of the steerer and seal against the stem and prevent water getting down and rusting the threads, so you may be bottoming out on that.

    Posted 7 years ago
    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    If I understand correctly you have removed the bracket from under the headset nut and locknut and replaced the bracket with a spacer. That all sounds fine to me, I guess the threads were too knackered to tighten them down without a spacer.

    My only concern is the plastic spacers. If they get deformed the headset will be loose but no one will die as a result

    Posted 7 years ago
    slowster
    Free Member

    So you’ve removed a bracket which should result in there being more thread exposed at the top of the steerer, and instead there is now insufficient thread to fit the locking nut?

    It sounds like you’ve made a mistake reassembling the headset (something fitted upside down maybe?). I would take it all apart and reassemble again.

    Posted 7 years ago
    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    So you’ve removed a bracket which should result in there being more thread exposed at the top of the steerer, and instead there is now insufficient thread to fit the locking nut?

    Not my understanding. He had more thread that the nut wouldn’t thread down so he’s used spacers

    Posted 7 years ago
    TiRed
    Full Member

    It will be fine. I raced my TT bike without the locknut and an insert with 1 1/8th stem clamped to the threads. The headset can’t come apart (unlike a threadless), but it may come loose. It has to be pretty loose before bad things happen, particularly on a sit up and beg bike, where little weight is taken over the front of the bike.

    Posted 7 years ago
    slowster
    Free Member

    Not my understanding. He had more thread that the nut wouldn’t thread down so he’s used spacers

    Thank you, I evidently misread the OP.

    Posted 7 years ago
    Jakester
    Free Member

    It’s not that there is insufficient thread, rather, that once the bracket was removed, the locking nut won’t tighten down on top of the top headset cup (which is itself threaded and tightened down).

    So, we have from the bottom up – threaded headset top cap – didn’t touch (save to check it was done up).

    Bracket – removed.

    Locking nut.

    Top nut.

    Bracket was removed, and locking nut wouldn’t screw down to where the bracket was. I therefore removed it, and fitted metal 1 1/8 spacers (with plastic inserts inside between to pack the space between the 1″ steerer and the 1 1/8 spacers) and then locked it all down with the top nut.

    I thought it’d probably be fine – as mentioned, the steerer and stem are separate to the headset – but just wanted to check I hadn’t removed anything crucial.

    It is a sit up and beg, and we’ll be doing a maximum of 20 miles over a week, so it’l probably cope!

    Posted 7 years ago
    DezB
    Free Member

    I used to have a spacer between the nut and the locknut on my road bike cos the streerer was a couple of mm too long. It survived (although it was a metal spacer). Long as the locknut doesn’t loosen it’ll be ok.

    Fron sheldonbrown.com

    Posted 7 years ago
    dovebiker
    Full Member

    In removing the bracket you need to replace it with a spacer, otherwise the lock nut will screw-down onto the thread before the bearings have been correctly adjusted. Plastic spacer will be OK as a temporary measure but better to fit a metal one in the long run.

    Posted 7 years ago
    DezB
    Free Member

    She’ll only die if the race nut comes off and she wheelies down the shops.

    Posted 7 years ago
    Jakester
    Free Member

    DezB – Member
    She’ll only die if the race nut comes off and she wheelies down the shops.

    😀

    Cheers all – using Sheldon’s (correct, rather than my guessed) terminology, threaded top race fully tightened down, spacers locked down with locknut – job’s a good un!

    Thanks.

    Posted 7 years ago
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