Hey guys ok - here we go, heres my life story...

Im a bike mechanic, a fairly decent one, in saying that im not trying to say that i know everything as reading this you will findout, i have done a STU course, some shimano courses and recently attended UBI for an advanced mechanics course as well as the steel braze framebuilding course (if anyones interested i'd HIGHLY recommend it - bikeschool.com and no im not being payed for advertising unfortunately :) )

I work in a big bike shop in New Zealand (if you dont know where it is NO its not anything to do with Australia on my recent trip to UBI in Oregon 80% of people thought i was Australian - Grrrr). We do a huge range of bike, mountain biking and road riding are huge as well as stuff like singlespeeds and 29ers etc BUT Cyclocross in NZ is virtually non existant which i think is a shame and im working to change that starting next Autumn or 'Fall'. So anyway long story short i have a lack of experience with cross bikes.

At UBI i decided to build myself a steel cross bike which i have bought back home and built up recently and everything is fine except my issue with the front brake - i have a cable hanger like the problem solvers type though im not sure what brand or anything, like this anyway -- http://www.dotbike.com/A_Resources/ProductImages000/P622_125.jpg

i much prefer the look of those compared to this tektro crown attached one (yes im picky...)--
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/images/tektro1257.jpg

I have a Chris King headset and the issue is that nomatter how tight the cable hanger/stop is (believe me, i got sick of it and i made it TIGHT, although i know it was probly tighter than it should have been) it still pulls down slightly and pushes on the headset at an angle when the front brake is pulled tightly (if i adjust the headset its fine untill the brake is pulled tight) basically giving me indexed, tight steering or at least putting uneven load on the top headset bearing.

i have a spacer under the cable hanger which i thought may help distribute the load evenly but that didnt help, i have also tryed a different hanger thinking the machining tolerances might be different and i found one in our drawer in the shop that fitted a little nicer. There may be something simple the guys that have come across this have as a solution but im stumped other than going to the crown mounted type of hanger.

Anyway thanks for any help you guys can come up with

Have you tried a different headset?

King headsets are very sensitive. Is your headtube faced? Did you use King tools to install? Is it in correctly? Did you grease the bearing/races in anyway? All possible issues.

King headsets are not popular beyond XC MTBing (and road cause of Lance) as the contact points are teeny tiny and don't like stresses from bigger travel forks and headtube flex. The uneven pressure you describe would be the same...

Try a different headset. And even save some of those undervalued NZ$ by getting an FSA with the hanger integrated.

......I'm Australian, lived in California for six years, and found most thought I was a Pommy. NZ is a state of Australia after all. Check our consitution...

Coldie.

Here's mine. The King headset doesn't seem to be a problem. I've been running this for about 4 months now.

Sorry the pic doesn't show the set up that well, but I think this may be similar to what you are trying to do.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/Arctic1/DSCN3332.jpg

Arcticbiker - from what i can see im doing the same thing, does that ritchey fork have a carbon or alloy steerer tube? the fork im running now is alloy steerer but ill be getting a easton cx fork soon which has a carbon steerer, what do people do for hangers on them, same thing or different? clamping a carbon steerer with such a small part unlike the depth of a stem doesnt seem like the best idea to me...

and its nothing to do with the headset or spacers because if i install everything even with the brake hanger its all sweet, no headset issues at all but if i pull the front brake reasonably hard (decending a steep hill) or multiple times the brake cable hanger nomatter how tight or how its positioned still pulls downwards and pulls the top headset cap on an angle. The thing is ive seen plenty of king headsets with the same type of cable hanger and i assume they had no issues as people were running them and obviously had been for some time...

This has nothing to do with cyclocross but... Coldass - NZ is NOT a state of Australia, it has been an idea thats been talked about and knocked around for some time but nothing ever happened. NZ and Australia have no political association...

Chris,

Yeah, my steerer tube is alloy (1 1/8"). I'm running a Ritchie WCS Cross fork. I've had absolutely no affect from hard braking. The noodle hanger was a worry for me too. I finally spoke with the folks (Speedgoat) that sold me the fork what they recommended. Mine's a "Problem Solvers" mounted with a couple of spacers.

Easton fork should be a good one. The EC90 is supposed to be a rockin fork. I don't know what you had to pay for that, but it's about $600 here in the states.

I've been dreaming about riding in NZ for years now. I ran into a guy that works for Pedaltours a few years back. I love the mountains. Do you know anything about them? Or can you recommend another company for cycle tours?

Noodle:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8/Arctic1/IMGP0409Medium.jpg

and its nothing to do with the headset The thing is ive seen plenty of king headsets with the same type of cable hanger and i assume they had no issues as people were running them and obviously had been for some time...

Did you face your headtube correctly?

If your King is not installed in a correctly faced headtube you will not be able to correctly preload the stack. Without the brake activated all will seem fine, but with pressure you expose the problem. This will cause the symptom you describe. This could be made worse by a flexy steertube and lightly preloaded king stack. A king headset will spin free and work fine most times with a poor aligned setup. But this is far from optimal and a hundred bikes that have worked before this way doesn't make right. So, did you face your headtube and use King's tools to install? That is King's headset press adaptors and such.... If you didn't your working from a poor start point to solve your problem.

Arctic - thanks for the help. I might get a problemsolvers cable stop, i was thinking maybe the machining tolerances of the ones i have (ive tryed 3 now, unknown brands except ones an old tektro but looks identical to the prob. solvers) are no0t quite as good and causing it to slop and when pulled sag in the front or mabe the headtube is slightly undersized (it is only a cheap fork) then again i wont be using that once the easton arrives, i think ill get a pacenti/Llewellyn stem kit and build my own lugged stem with a integrated cable hanger.

Coldass - yeap i reamed and faced the head tube and installed the headset with a park press and king adapters, i have 5 king headsets personally and have installed many previously and its fitted as it should be. I have used the bike as it is and adjusted it with alot of playing around though the top cap is still on an angle, i just got frustrated and wanted to ride it (i work in a shop and would never let a customers bike be used like this and i want to set it up better).

I think what ill eventually do is build a custom stem with an integrated hanger, maybe not for this bike but for future bikes at least. For now i think ill try a problem solvers stop and if i have no luck there ill just use the crown mounted tektro type.

thanks for your help guys,