Wife just took delivery of a gorgeous new custom Carl Strong titanium road bike...but we're a bit flummoxed trying to set the headset bearing pre-load.

I looked on the White Industries website but couldn't find any technical documentation on their headsets. I think she has the ZS44 headset.

I'm used to setting up a Chris King NoThreadset, where the headset pre-load gets set by tightening the top cap screw to 15in.lbs. while the stem bolts are loose, and only after the pre-load is set do the stem bolts get tightened.

When I try that same approach with this WI headset, if I adjust the pre-load to be tight enough so that the top cap and upper bearing cup don't move...neither does the fork!
But if I dial back the pre-load so that the fork feels like it's moving normally, then after I've tightened the stem bolts the top cap and upper bearing cup are still spinning freely! That doesn't seem right...is it?

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/explicit PDF documents from White Industries?

Thanks.

Before sweating details make 100% sure you have all parts and spacers sequenced correctly.

If correct, the stack will carry the compression from the top cap bolt, through the stem, past all parts to the upper bearing without.allowing any other parts to touch first.

Any missing or mis-sequenced spacer can cause the top cap to touch the upper bearing cup and jam the headset.

Have you preformed the ft brake on rocking the bike fore and aft test for a loose headset?

I take it the frame came bare of an installed headset or fork... Andy

They'd effing better be, the bike came completely assembled from the builder. Just had to attach the handlebars...at which point I discovered this issue.


I have indeed done the rock-the-bike-fore/aft-while-squeezing-front-brake test, which is how I know something ain't right: Definitely feels like a loose headset, as if the pre-load isn't tight enough. But when I tighten it, then the fork sounds like it's struggling to turn on the bearings.

The frame came fully assembled: headset and fork and stem all installed, I just needed to attach the bars and tighten the pre-load. (And install saddle & seatpost, fwiw.)

"Binary" headset adjustment, meaning going directly from loose to jammed, without.passing through being stiff is almost exclusive caused by incorrect stack sequence.

Pull the stem, put your brain into analytics mode and confirm the correct assembly. It might help to find an exploded view and compare.

When I'm in doubt, I assemble only up to the headset top cover and load with direct finger pressure to see if I'm feeling a bearing or dry metal contact.

Well, I tried a few more times, based on feedback from youze guyze in this thread, as well as another internet forum where I'd posted the same query, plus some suggestions from Carl...still no luck. So I sucked it up and brought the bike to the LBS.

The mechanic there seemed to recognize the issue right away; he said the top of the upper bearing cup was "bottoming out" on the lower part of the upper bearing cup, so he installed two 1-1/8" I.D. 0.25mm thick shims in between those two halves of the upper bearing cup and BOOM! Bob's yer uncle, everything worked perfectly! Problem solved.

Yay! Glad it was fixed. Sometimes those little thin spacers make a world of difference. I installed a new headset on my Langster (because I refuse to use any headset on with caged bearings on a modern bike and Specialized versions of those headsets in particular are cheap garbage) and needed that tiny spacer and boom all was fixed.

The real issue here now is we don't even know what the bike looks like. You say Carl Strong Titanium but it could just be another wally mart Huffy. We have no idea without seeing some good photos

Can someone provide a pic of where those spacers would go between the cups, please?
Many thanks
Charlie

LOL! That was one of the requests on the other website where I posted about this same problem too. But as I noted in the OP:
Would be great if I could find an installation manual and/or exploded view drawing. Seems really odd that they offer all those resources for their hubs, but not their headsets.

No picture should be necessary.

The issue is that the top bearing cover was too low, so spacers ate added directly below.

On most headsets that would be between it and the centering cone.

Pics of the bike please - and the headset!

Pics forthcoming…as soon as it gets back from the shop, where it still is for reasons unrelated to the headset.

It's back!

Hubba Hubba!