Originally Posted by Distinguished

I see, that makes things a lot simpler, now to find a long allen key. Hmm, maybe I can attach something to a shorter one to make it longer, kind of like when people use a wrench and attach pipe to it.

Originally Posted by Distinguished

Right, so after all of these shenanigans, I've learned this: the fork is simply a piece of nicely shaped metal that goes through the frame--but it needs something to hold it in place; using only the stem bolts as a clamp would work, but it's not enough, and it might damage the steerer tube over time, so manufacturers decided to add a second way to hold the fork/steerer to the rest of the bike.

Originally Posted by Distinguished

Right, so after all of these shenanigans, I've learned this: the fork is simply a piece of nicely shaped metal that goes through the frame--but it needs something to hold it in place; using only the stem bolts as a clamp would work, but it's not enough, and it might damage the steerer tube over time, so manufacturers de . . . [snip]

Originally Posted by Kimmo

Not quite; the stem bolts are enough to hold the fork just fine for as long as you like. The top cap and star nut / expander plug are there to apply preload to the headset bearings before the stem is clamped to the steerer. Once the stem is clamped in place with the proper preload on the bearings, the top cap and star nut / expansion plug are redundant and can be removed, at least until the next time the headset requires adjustment.

Originally Posted by AnkleWork

When you find yourself at the bottom of a deep dark hole, you should probably drop the shovel.

Originally Posted by Distinguished

Although I think your comment was insightful and clever, I'm trying to keep digging until I find myself out of the hole haha. I'm definitely not perfect, but that's okay, with time comes skill, and with patience comes knowledge, but both only truly manifest with effort.

Originally Posted by AnkleWork

One climbs out of an intellectual hole not by digging further with skills and knowledge, but rather by developing insight, understanding, and logic. The process yields skills and knowledge as mere artifacts.

Originally Posted by Kimmo

It's possible to dig a staircase into the wall of the hole.

Originally Posted by Distinguished

Alright, so if I understood you correctly, when I use the plug (or star nut) and the end cap, I'm essentially providing pre-load, or adequate pressure, to the bearings. But, considering how this pressure is captured when I clamp down the stem, I can then remove the starnut/plug and end cap, and I'd be perfectly okay. If that's the case, how would you go about removing the end cap while the stem bolts are screwed in?

Originally Posted by Kimmo

I have no idea what's going on with your funky end cap / compression plug assembly; I haven't come across one like that before. Anyway, it's not like you should remove it after you clamp the stem, it's just that you can.

Originally Posted by ragnar.jensen

That's a Cannondale special - the "SI COMPRESSION ASSEMBLY KP017". You should NOT remove it. It keeps the stem from crushing a carbon steerer when you tighten the stem bolts.

Page 8 in https://media.cannondale.com/media/Sy...bon_en_low.pdf

Originally Posted by Kimmo

Anyway, it's not like you should remove it after you clamp the stem, it's just that you can.

Originally Posted by sreten

From the link it seems it would be impossible to remove anyway, correctly
installed. Once you tightened the stem properly the top cap won't move, so
you cannot remove it. It can't be removed before tightening the stem bolts.

Interesting for the same reason you can't have any rings above the stem.

Originally Posted by 3alarmer

5. You now have a home for your bicycle "guard spider" to live in.

Originally Posted by Distinguished

Right, so after all of these shenanigans, I've learned this: the fork is simply a piece of nicely shaped metal that goes through the frame--but it needs something to hold it in place; using only the stem bolts as a clamp would work, but it's not enough, and it might damage the steerer tube over time, so manufacturers decided to add a second way to hold the fork/steerer to the rest of the bike. There are many ways to go about this second step, including the starnut and the adjustable plug. I had the latter, and all it is is a small piece of metal which expands as a bolt goes down it's thread, allowing it to stay held to the walls of the steerer. This now stuck piece of metal acts as an anchoring point that can be used to pull up the steerer/fork and hold it in place. This hoisting is done by the end cap,which has internal threads that attach to that small piece of metal in the steerer tube. The more I tighten this end cap, the more compressed the entire fork/frame/stem assembly will be, or the amount of preload it has; which affects how freely the bearings can move, and in turn, how freely the whole system moves.

So, keeping all of that in mind, this is what I did to put the plug back in, step by step, as you instructed.

1. loosened the stem bolts

2. screwed in the end cap to the plug 2/3 of the threads

3. Placed the end cap/plug into the steerer tube as far as the end cap would allow.

4. Partially tightened the plug bolt, allowing the plug to anchor itself into the steerer tube, but still allowing it to move down if necessary.

5. Removed the end cap, because you told me to

6. Tightened the plug bolt more securely; it was now wholly anchored in.

7. Screwed the end cap back on, this time screwing it down until there's no play in the headset. The system was now held together vertically; I couldn't pull apart the stem and fork by mere force if I wanted to.

8. Re-tightened the stem bolts using the manufacturers recommendation, without a torque wrench as I do not have one. The system was now secured horizontally, the wheel and fork and handlebars became one continuous mechanism; they all moved dependently with one another when turned.

9. Checked to see if the system is free enough by lifting the bike and swinging the handlebar/fork/wheel back and forth; if it moved freely and even, I'd be set; if the movement was choppy and uneven, I'd have to try again.

10. It was free, and even.

Only thing that strikes me as different from when I started this morning is that the steerer/fork now moves independently when the two stem bolts aren't screwed in, even if the end cap & plug are in place. It didn't use to do that, but maybe that's because I've now messed with it, so it's more malleable than when it rolled out of manufacturing. (By the way, in case if you are all curious, I didn't buy this CAAD9 from a bike shop, I got it off of Craigslist on the cheap, practically new, and with no manual).

Originally Posted by Distinguished

Hi there,

As I was riding home I started to feel that my headset was loose; there were strange noises I didn't like coming from there, and play.

So I went on YouTube, smashed in some how to's and got on my way to tightening the headset.

Here's what I did:

1. Loosened the two screws on the stem.
2. Removed top cap
3. Tightened the screw that attaches to star fangled nut. Play was still felt.

Logic: "huh, maybe it's something else that's causing the problem."

Not logic: "Let's see what happens when I loosen the screw."

4. Loosened screw that attaches to star fangled nut.
5. Watched sadly as star fangled nut descended 10 cm down into the steerer tube.
6. Tried removing the fork to see if I could get the nut out from the bottom. Then realized the bottom of the fork is not hollow....
7. Cried slowly and came to bike forums.


I'm wondering how I can take out the descended fangled nut; maybe by separating the steerer tube from the rest of the fork somehow? Is that even possible?

Or maybe I can get a really long allen wrench or a strong, thin magnet and pull it out from the top; but I doubt that considering the nut only goes one way.

Bah. May I have a hand please?