Originally Posted by
RubeRad
I bet this will be the winning suggestion. I will loosen the stem and put it back less tight, see if the carpet-squirm and the leaning goes away.
Oh this is almost certainly the problem. I just peeked at
SB, and on his advice:
Stiffness results when the headset is adjusted too tight. Check for this by lifting the front of the frame so that the front wheel comes off the ground. Normally, the wheel and handlebar will flop to one side or the other by their own weight when you do this.
I have a definite detent in the headset, must be holding the front wheel slightly left of straight. When I lift the front wheel with the bike nearly upright, the detent will hold the wheel. If I lean the bike, the front wheel flops fairly easily, so it's subtle, doesn't manifest while steering, only when riding hands-free and letting the wheel go where it will.
I will cut back on the headset preload and hopefully it will go away for now, meanwhile I will start shopping for a new headset. Any recommendations would be welcome (but remember, I'm a real cheapskate, so I'm not going to drop $500 on a custom Chris King with unobtanium bearings hand-lubed with Llama spit.)