Road Cycling - Fork Question

Recently I purchased a new Trek 5900 and have put about 300 miles on it the last few weeks. Amazing ride...smooth as silk. I usually clean it after every ride and noticed something when cleaning/wiping down the tires. If i hold the front brake lever tight and wiggle the bike foward/backward a tad, the fork has a hair of play in it. You cannot visibly see any movement...nor feel it when riding and getting hard on the brakes...only when the bike is still and wiggled slightly.

I talked to the LBS and he said sometimes it takes a little while for the bearings in the headset to settle in? Is this true?

Can anyone do me a favor and hold your front brake lever tight and see if the fork has any play when the bike pushed foward and back slightly? thanks! :D

Yes, in a newly installed headset, it does take a while for it to "settle in". It might loosen once or twice before it does this. What you described about play in the fork is actually play in the headset.

Since you purchased the bike recently, you should be able to take it back to the shop for them to tighten it up for you. Go ahead and get it done, the play will just get worse the longer you wait.

Are you sure you aren't seeing the fork flexing??? That's normal, you know...

Headset settling is the most likely cause.
I recently purchased a LiteSpeed Tuscany with an Ouzo Pro fork held in place by CaneCreek's IS headset. The headset has loosened on the first ride, I tightened it and now the play is less. After three rides and three adjustments, the headset has settled nicely and there is nomore play after a ride.
Just make sure you only ride the bike on short trips during this break in period.

I jsut bought a used Lemond Frame, and noticed the same thing.. it appears the Headset is loose or something.. there is a little bit of play in it... it is a Chris King no threadset headset... since i am new to this whole new world of Threadless... how do I tighten it up ?? I haven;t ridden the bike yet... it is just a frame and fork so far

Jeff

Tighten the top cap. If there's a stem on it, which I assume there is from what you're saying, make sure you loosen it before you go cranking on the top cap. Don't overtighten it, either.

Take it to the shop about once a week until you are happy.

Try turning the front wheel to a side and see of there is flex that way.

thanks for the replies! here is a pic of the headset i have...

http://www.filebox.vt.edu/users/eklemm/Trek3.jpg

this is probably a stupid question, but how do i tighten it? the silver cane creek cap just seems to spin...

Loosen the 2 bolts on the stem.
Tighten the bolt in the top cap (the one surrounded by Bs). Not too much or the headset wil bind.
Retighten the 2 stem bolts.

Are you turning the top cap itself or the bolt that's in the middle of it, coppi?

Originally posted by ImprezaDrvr
Are you turning the top cap itself or the bolt that's in the middle of it, coppi?

after i noticed the slight movement, i loosened the stem and top bontrager black cap (covering the cut steer tube) and then made sure the spacers were pushed down all the way. I then pushed the stem back down on top, and tightented it. Then placed the top cap back on and tightened that. But altogether I thought these parts were all seperate from the headset assembly...and just pieces to keep the handlebar assembly together...

The "top cap" that I meant was spinning was actually the silver one directly on top of the head tube with the "Cane Creek S6" engraving on it. But I guess maye this is more of a dust cap/branding and doesn't play a role in the headset structure.

When I pull off the stem and black bontrager cap is there something inside the steer tube to tighten? it just looks like a threaded area where the top allen nut feeds into...

KnightWhoSaysNi: I guess you are saying just tighten the top allen nut...

thanks for the help

Do what knight said.

Here's a quick rundown: The threaded spot in the steer tube is actually a star fangled nut that's pounded down into the steer tube to give the top cap of the headset (the part on the very top of the stem) something to screw down into. The combination of your stem and spacers and the top of the headset (not the top cap, the dust cap) all work together to put pressure on the bearings and races. So, to tighten that bad boy down, you need to loosen your stem (there will be a couple of bolts that you can get to from the side of the stem) and tighten the top cap bolt that you get to at the very top of everything. That bolt threads into the star fangled nut and pushes the top cap down, thereby compressing stem, spacers, etc onto the headset and, voila, the headset is tightened.

You might want to run by the LBS and have them show you what's up if you're still not sure. They can also tell you how tight you'll want to keep it.

Originally posted by ImprezaDrvr

Here's a quick rundown: .

awesome...thanks for the help man :D

Like everyone said, chances are is your headset is breaking in. When I put a Chris King on one of my bikes, it took about 3 tightens before it stayed tight.

Like everyone said, chances are is your headset is breaking in. When I put a Chris King on one of my bikes, it took about 3 tightens before it stayed tight.

Yeah, this is an old thread, but I just had my third Chris King headset tightening as well. LBS said this was normal, and that now it should hold for awhile, but 3 tightenings in about 1000 miles seems a bit much to me. Does anyone know what's going on, mechanically? It sure is scary going 40MPH with a slightly loose headset (downhill).