Originally Posted by
FBinNY
Here's where you have to remove and inspect the fork. If the crown race is loose you'll have the symptoms described, and that can easily be spotted (the race is loose and falls off), and corrected by a variety of methods.
OTOH, if the steerer is actually loose in the crown, this is a rare defect, but it's the most dangerous type of defect it's possible to have on a bike, and the fork cannot be ridden under any circumstances.
I'm not someone who generally post's ".... or you'll die" which is an exaggeration 90% of the time, but a loose steerer/crown joint really is something that can kill or maim.
Crown race is not loose. It is tightly fitted. Steerer is not "completely" loose in the crown (in this case lover part of the fork cause there is no sperate crown in this fork). Bottom end is fixed with the weldment but upper end of the fork is bigger than the steerer tube so there is some play there. Please refer to the figure (very exaggerated) below. This play is very little. You cannot see it with eye. But it is there, I can feel it. I am guessing that, since there is clearance at the upper end of the fork, crown race bottom is rubbing against fork and that is making the noise.
