Hey BF,

I've got a gap between the frame race and adjusting race in my threadless headset, it's big enough to drive a truck through: here's a pic.

Is this normal? The frame race is in correctly, the sealed bearing cartridge is seated, the "split cone compression ring" or "centering sleeve" that sits between the steerer tube and the bearings is seated correctly, and I've already put what feels like too much torque on the top cap bolt.

I'm more familiar with threaded headsets so it seems like any gap must be an error. What am I doing wrong?

I looked through a few archived threads, the consensus seems to be that a gap is ok, but this doesn't seem right to me. Isn't that just inviting the elements to destroy my headset?

Thanks in advance, and thanks for all the other times you've helped me.

There is somthing wrong in the way you have installed that headset, there should be no gap between the upper cup and upper bearing cover, have you got the upper seal or upper bearing the wrong way around?

The headset should fit together with no gaps before any of the bolts are torqued down, compare your to the manufactures instructions

https://www.fullspeedahead.com/storag...uctions_v3.pdf

Thanks for your reply.

This was my instinct too. Is anything obviously wrong in either of these photos?

With the upper cup and centering ring raised up:


https://i.imgur.com/GmZH7.jpg

Centering ring in place, upper cup still raised:


https://i.imgur.com/TEuUH.jpg

If I remove the split ring between the bearings and the adjusting race, things fit fine, but the split ring seems pretty crucial.

What do you have installed onto the bottom side of the top cap? In this pic I can see something with an angled profile in by the steerer. Might you have mixed up the crown race and the top cap seal?

The headset looks correctly installed, the FSA markings will be the correct way up, if the cups are installed correctly.

There should be a tiny gap, which is equal all the way around, not larger on one side than the other, it should look like the one in the link

https://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/...101/FSA_MX.jpg

Are you referring the the silver split ring, or the black top cap? The black top cap has a slight protrusion underneath it:



https://i.imgur.com/oGHjw.jpg

(I assumed this was all part of one piece, I cannot seem to forcibly seperate any parts of the top cap)

Thanks. My gap looks noticeably larger

I have an FSA Orbit X on one bike and an Orbit XII on another and there is no gap in either. Can you close the gap by pushing down on the to cover by hand? I was wondering if your steerer is too long for the spacer satck so the top cover hits the steerer before compressing the stack far enough.

The headset cap is noticeably slanted, are you sure the upper and lower are pressed in fully, and evenly?

Double check the lower assembly, and the crown race for being pressed down properly.

I can't

The black top cap.

It looks like the cartridge bearing is sitting in the upper cup nicely. However, considering the top cap's protrusion, maybe the cartridge is supposed to sit lower. Are all the components stock and/or a matched set? Could the cartridges have been changed to a different brand? (There are various permutations of 36 and 45 degree bevels.)

Yeah, they are all part of a set.

Here what the gap looks on my setup. There's still that slightly larger gap on front versus the rear, but there's no installation or frame issues.

I just checked and rechecked. Everything seems seated properly.

I've managed to get the gap on my setup down to about this size. So it is ok to have a gap? The only way it seems physically possible not to is be removing the silver split centering ring, which I assume is integral.

I've seen that on a couple FSA headsets (mine included). Unless your steer tube is on the small side of the allowable diameter (ie split ring sitting lower) you're going to have a gap there.

Any chance the fork steerer is bent? If not, and you're not having any play or binding, that gap is likely just cosmetically annoying at worse. If you're worried about contamination, lizard skin makes a sleeve for the headset cups made of neoprene.

Hi,
you seem to be missing the upper seal on your headset that covers the bearing race.

...here's a pic of my new uninstalled FSA orbit MX out of the box. Don't know how to post full size but I think the click to enlarge function works.
fsa-headset-seal.jpg

Fork is brand new, seems straight.

Cool, I think I'll get one. Pic (for potential future googlers):


https://i.imgur.com/ggOSN.jpg

!!! I'm certainly missing that, or at least mine didn't come with one! Well, that explains a lot.

Likely the latter. They don't all have that seal, especially if they are already cartridge bearings.

My MX has cartridge bearings...

I'm just saying that many cartridge bearing headsets skipped that step, not all of them.