Is this right? (LBS-installed Hope headset)

Being a bit of a duffer I had my LBS install a new Hope headset yesterday.

They are a good bunch, so I hope I am mistaken in thinking this might be wrong, but is the top cap meant to sit clear of the rest of the headset by 1-2mm like this:

[/url] image[/url] by Danny H 456 rider[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url] image[/url] by Danny H 456 rider[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url] image[/url] by Danny H 456 rider[/url], on Flickr[/img]

If this is ok, then no worries, but I’m a bit concerned about water and other crap getting in there.

All help gratefully accepted!

Top seal, not top cap.

Doh!

Sorry!

No, or have that many spacers (unless it’s a steel steerer).

WTF is going on with all the spacers.! 😯

And most importantly, the logos are not aligned on the headset!

Spacers aren’t necessarily an issue, Thorn bikes come like that as standard. But that gap can’t be right, who’d design a component to be like that?

Spacers aren’t necessarily an issue,

I disagree.

Looks like you’re missing the top cap outer seal.
Goes between the top cap and top bearing.
see here:
Hope info

Upside down bearing under the sticky up cap? Or something missing

A *proper* bike shop did that?

Spacers look stupid, and will exceed what a lot of forks recommend.

Headset is assembled wrongly and the shop haven’t lined up headset and frame logo when installing the cups, which shows lack of attention to detail.

New LBS required.

The spacers look even better in he flesh 😀

Seriously though, it doesn’t look right to me, my hope headset certainly doesn’t have a gap like that.

Edit: all the LBS around here are shite!

It looks as if the rubber lip is missing from the seal.

Bollocks, so they’ve ballsed it up and lost the seal.

F-ing brilliant.

Yep. As mentioned… Its missing a rubber seal.

Id definitely be back in the shop getting them to re press the cups with the logos straight. Awful.

Can you add a picture of the bottom cup?

…and this is why I only use my LBS for showrooming.

Bloody hell that is shocking.

Rubber seal missing but also possibly too high due to something else wrong.

Bearing should be sat with the outer chamfer down and inner chamfer up. Then the split ring. Then some shims you use to adjust the drag of the rubber seal (missing) so that it seals but doesn’t rub it too much or deform. Then the top cap with rubber seal that is missing.
Iirc hope headsets have 3 logos around the edge so I normally align one with the front of the head tube.

Iirc hope headsets have logos around the edge so I normally align one with the front of the head tube.

It’s hard to tell from the angle, but it doesn’t look like it’s in the middle to me, but I’d expect any decent shop to do the same.

It doesn’t look like it no. But need a definitive full frontal.

PS missed out ‘3’ before logos.

My piss is reaching a low simmer.

I’ve just taken it to bits and:

They didn’t bother to remove the old star nut, so it is still using that. No head expander plug in sight, nor was I given it back.

The rubber seal is also missing (as said above).

Honestly, what the hell do they think when they’ve got bits left over at the end? Do they actually think that there are superfluous parts to a component?

They are going to be getting a phone call tomorrow and they better not have chucked the bits and the box out or there is going to be naming and shaming.

I don’t care about logos being lined up, but this level of incompetence is worrying.

The headset set-up looks like it might be OK. It just looks bad because it’s missing the seal. The shop should replace that for you, though it certainly should not have been allowed out of the shop like that. Is there any play or excessive friction?

*EDIT just read your post about missing head-doctor. If course they won’t throw it out, there’s a £15 retail price on it :]

I don’t care about logos being lined up…

Whut?

Can’t believe they let it leave the shop like that! 😯

Did they fit the new top cap and aluminium bolt?

And was there a crown race on the forks already and have they. Fitted the hope one if so? That should have a rubber seal too.

I wouldn’t bother with the expander. Leave the star one in now as the tube will be scored. But you should have it returned to you.

No o-ring under the top cap either – as I think there should be.

They’re getting one chance to sort this out……….

how can you tell the logos are not lined up ? modern hope headsets have 3 at 90 degrees to each other – so id say that cups in the right place to have one central – one at 90 and one at 270. you cant tell if they are lined up or not as you can only see one cup.

seals definantly missing – either been removed to get it to stop rubbing instead of using the shims OR it just plain wasnt there – now if they have not fitted a hope headset before they might not know there was supposed to be a seal there….. stranger designs have come from raceface etc…

speak to them nicely instead of going in all guns blazing.

forum warriors will likely say other wise.

Just pulled back the seal on mine to check the gap, and it looks about the same as yours, so probably just a missing seal. 3 logos on those, so it’s probably lined up about right for those that care about such things (FWIW, mine have differing logos top to bottom, are misaligned with the frame, and are upside down too, all done deliberately to p*ss off somebody who gets worked up about things that don’t even affect him) 🙂

oring IN the top cap of headset not under – and not under the pre tensioning cap.

They’re getting one chance to sort this out……….

They’ve had that and blown it.

Ahh is it just the top cap with 3 logos?

If so then that alignment is shocking.

And yes, should be o ring inside top cap to seal it against the steerer. Quite possible they were missing in the packet. Oh and the headset boxes are quite handy to keep spare top cap shims, head doctored/star nuts and steerer spacers in. Or maybe in this case all the bits they didn’t fit!

Print off the headset parts list and take the bike in to very clealry point out what parts are missing and what is not correct.

modern hope headsets have 3 at 90 degrees to each other

Good maths 😀

As an aside, I guess the grass isn’t always greener…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-have-you-bought-thats-a-bit-shit/page/2#post-6310343

😛

I’ve bodged a temporary fix from an Aldi plumbing o ring and seal set of all things.

Luckily there is a rubber seal in that kit that just stretches onto the available shelf of the upper seal. It sticks out a bit, but that’s probably a good thing to stop stuff dropping in. There is still a smaller gap to the top of the compression ring, but I’ve wadded a load of grease into that, so unless I ride it in a monsoon, it should keep dust etc out until I can take it back to the buffoons. I will only be riding a couple of times until I can definitely get it back to them, so should be fine until then.

As suggested, I will print off the documents and try to get all the bits back and do the damned thing myself. All I really needed them to do was press the bloody cups in!

I won’t go in all guns blazing as that is obviously not a nice thing to do, and could prove counter productive. If they mess me about or won’t give me the bits back, then a public flaming may be in order. Having said that, I’ve always found them alright on a personal level, so I think this is incompetence rather than malicious.

P.S. All the comments about spacers seem a little bollocks to me. If fork manufacturers were so scared of this, surely they would install shorter steerers. They’ve had numerous attempted actions agains them to my knowledge, and are extremely cautious as a result (if memory serves).

If fork manufacturers were so scared of this, surely they would install shorter steerers.

They make them long so as to accommodate as long a head tube as they can envisage plus a bit for a few spacers.

No steerers are that long so they can fit xl frames with long head tubes.
Is there a medical reason you need so many spacers? Having your bars so high is not good for handling.

Rockshox instruction manual:
Measure the RockShox steerer tube against the length
of the existing one as you may need to cut the RockShox steerer tube.

4cm (?) of spacers is certainly “unique”

Full bike pic? I can’t visualise how anyone can use that many spacers 😀

4cm of spacers is bad enough but 4cm of small (5mm?) ones is a bit…..