Originally Posted by dgregory57
Good points. Just because it hasn't happened to me doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. But since I have never owned a threadless, I was curious.
Now I have another tool to buy and make sure that I have with me, just in case.
Thanks!
Back in the old days of mountain biking, loose headsets were very common. Threaded headsets were just awful about loosening up. There were all kinds of stuff used to keep the headset tight - shaft collars, locking headsets, pinch bolts, etc. Cooltool (the first and best multitool
) even made wenches that would fit their tool so that you could adjust the headset in the field. I use to carry a set of small channel locks everywhere I went so that I could adjust either my own headset or someone elses on rides.
Threadless can, and does, loosen occasionally. Often I have a problems with them within a few hours ride time of installation but the adjustment is simply to loosen the stem bolts (typically 2 5mm allens), tweek the top cap to take out the play and tighten the stem bolts back up. It usually takes more time to get the allen wrench out then to do the adjustment. Complete installation of a fork takes just about as long.