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05-23-08, 03:01 PM
To start, this is an old frame with a steertube that had a normal amount of surface rust for its age. It was cleaned out when I put it together, but not completely.
I decided to drop the stem down a little. I loosened, dropped it 1cm, and started tightening. I did the exact number of turns to tighten as what I did to loosen it, but the stem still rotated rather easily. So, I tightened it a bit more till it was in there reasonbly securely--though I had to put a little more torque into turning the bolt than I usually would.
Now, I hope this is easily explained by the fact that the steertube's has some inner surface rust and that I dropped the stem down a little, but now when turning I hear a slight crunchy sound. I'm imagining two possibilities, though neither is quite clear to me:
#1: Pushing the stem down let some surface rust fall into a gap (what gap?), which is causing the sound when I turn.
#2: Tightening the quill in the old steertube caused it to crack and expand at that spot, somehow (not sure exactly) causing the crunchy sound.
"Crunch" is a bit extreme for what the sound actually is. Also, after tightening that much I loosened it a bit to see what happens and the stem still seems secure enough. #1 seems more likely for a few reasons, but since I'm not exactly sure I thought I'd ask all y'all.
Please, I hope to only hear from those who've experienced something like this. My idle speculation is enough--I don't need everyone else's.
I decided to drop the stem down a little. I loosened, dropped it 1cm, and started tightening. I did the exact number of turns to tighten as what I did to loosen it, but the stem still rotated rather easily. So, I tightened it a bit more till it was in there reasonbly securely--though I had to put a little more torque into turning the bolt than I usually would.
Now, I hope this is easily explained by the fact that the steertube's has some inner surface rust and that I dropped the stem down a little, but now when turning I hear a slight crunchy sound. I'm imagining two possibilities, though neither is quite clear to me:
#1: Pushing the stem down let some surface rust fall into a gap (what gap?), which is causing the sound when I turn.
#2: Tightening the quill in the old steertube caused it to crack and expand at that spot, somehow (not sure exactly) causing the crunchy sound.
"Crunch" is a bit extreme for what the sound actually is. Also, after tightening that much I loosened it a bit to see what happens and the stem still seems secure enough. #1 seems more likely for a few reasons, but since I'm not exactly sure I thought I'd ask all y'all.
Please, I hope to only hear from those who've experienced something like this. My idle speculation is enough--I don't need everyone else's.