Stefan.

There is a small gap between the end of my fork and the start of the head tube on my 2007 f3:13 pinarello. It has an internal headset. I took it into a bike shop and they think I am missing a spacer of some sort, and that is why the bearings are exposed. I don't remember it looking like this, but when I try to push the fork in further, it won't budge. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

EcoRacer

Could be that they installed the wrong crown race, the wrong bearings with a different height, mixed top and low bearings up or that the crown race isn't seated fully. Hard to tell from the picture and without actually seeing the bike in real life. You could measure the bearings and see if there is a difference between the top and the lower one. On Pinarello's they tend to have some none standard headsets.

HillRider

What did the bike shop do? Did they remove and replace the bearings? Possibly they reversed them if the upper and lower aren't identical.

Also, does the headset turn smoothly and without play? If so, then there is probably just a seal of some sort missing that originally closed the gap. Check with the manufacturer of the headset or go to their web site and see if thay have their parts list on it.

FBinNY 

The one thing we know for certain is that you're not missing a spacer. Spacers can only increase separation, not decreas it (except for the negative spacers in hyperspace). I also don't think someone switched the bearings top and bottom because the lower is usually taller, so a switch would cause the gap in the upper stack, not the lower.

Crown heights do vary somewhat but I doubt that's the problem. For some reason the bearing stack of the lower race is too tall. Either it's the wrong bearing, or it's inverted, or not seated properly, or someone added a spacer where it doesn't belong. If the headset was serviced, I suspect a wrong bearing, since there are a number of standards and the wrong one won't seat properly. You can check quickly enough by dropping the fork and seeing how the lower bearing is sitting in the headtube.

It's also possible that it was always this way and you never noticed. On integrated H/S systems the lower bearing seat is machined leaving a thin section of headtube as a skirt to surround the bearing. If the headtube isn't machined deep enough you get a miniskirt and the bearing shows.

BCRider

There may have been a soft rubber seal that fit into that gap. Over time such things can get damaged and torn and fall out. If you have not had any work done on the fork or headset recently and you KNOW that this gap was not so open as it is now then this would be my guess. You'd have to find a schematic of your particular headset and see if the parts diagram shows such a seal. Also if there was one then it will be a specific part that you'd need to get from that company. It won't be just a generic Oring or such.

Although... it seems to me that an Oring of the right cross section but slightly smaller than the head tube diameter could be stretched on over the crown of the fork, the fork put back in and then the ring snapped onto the groove so provide a makeshift seal. There would be some slight drag from doing it this way but at least it would seal the gap from allowing grit or water into the bearing and it would be easy to stretch and lift it out of the groove for cleaning. If you do this lube the ring with a dry teflon lube or something like plastic and rubber trim detail creme. That'll keep the ring from grabbing at the joint. This Oring idea is a last ditch thing though. If you can get a proper seal, assuming there was one, that would be the optimum way to go.

Kimmo

This is why I hate anyone else working on my stuff, especially my bike or car.

In the long run, coughing up for the necessary specialised tools and figuring out how to do it is a vastly more satisfying (and often less expensive) experience than feeling shafted by incompetent and/or negligent bozos.

aljohn

Ha, I bought a frame, forks and headset and built it up. This had a gap, very small and I thought it was wrong. I sent photos to the retailer and they said they would pick it up and check it for me. However, I took it to a LBS and the mechanic couldn't see anything faulty as the whole lot turned very smoothly, but he could see my point. He then called me over to a load of new bikes, there were several makes and the gaps varied considerably. Some had almost no gap ( which is how I had assumed mine should have been) to about 3/16". Looking at these I decided to leave mine as it was and ride it. Dunno if that helps?

kycycler

I have built up Pinerallo's new. First time I had the gap. I called the US distributor and talked to there tech people. Was told that this is normal and to take a piece of wood and put it between the fork legs at the upper end and hit the wood with a mallet and this would seat the fork in the head set. This I did and it worked. This is just an interference fit.