cnguyen0320

So I took my fork out to take it to the shop. They did their thing and I put it back in and now I have this gap between the dust cap and the head tube. The silver you see are the sealed bearings. Is this a problem? If I remember correctly, the dust cap sat flush to the head tube before. Is there any way I can fix this if this is not normal?

martinus

Over-thinking it !

If it was "flush" ... would it be able to turn ?

WhyFi

It's a potential problem.

When you're putting it back together, don't tighten the stem on the steerer until AFTER you've tightened the stem cap. As you tighten the stem cap, it loads the dust cap, spacers and stem, pulling them in snugly and eliminating the play. If the stem is already tightened, tightening the cap can not load the entire stack.

zymphad

I agree with WhyFi. Do what he says. That gap would annoy me too and would rectify it. I wouldn't ride it until I did, that's me.

Team Sarcasm

I remember the first time I took off my fork

I third the "top cap before the stem bolts" notion.

danmc

Yes, I do too. And I remember it took about 10 tries before I had put everything back together in the right order, and not upside down. If I wasn't so cheap I'd have professionals do all my bike work.

Slackerprince

Shyeah, I had my bike in my Park bikestand, so once everything was loosend, gravity did it's thing.
Live and learn.

S

hueyhoolihan

i agree. there has to be a gap between the dust housing and the frame, otherwise there would be too much friction to work properly. all mine have a similar gap. some more, some less.

BTW, the OP, as far as i can tell, isn't complaining about a loose headset. but i could be wrong about the intent of the thread.

coasting 

i doubt it was flush with the head tube before. when i put my headset together when building, i needed to get micro-spacers to lift the top cap off the head tube.

MikeyBoyAz

The other REMOTE possibility, which was true for me... is that they put too many spacers below the cover so it gaps now.

When I replaced my headset bearings the LBS ordered me the FSA Orbit Carbon rather than alu (I liked the carbon more anyway, they know me well enough) and the lip was smaller on the carbon cover, I installed it and found the cover came down completely flush with the head tube (friction when turning bars). I looked into the alu cover and noticed there was a think shim and a few ultra-thin shims which had stuck (tiny amount of grease) to the underside. When I installed the cover with those paper thin shims the cover sat perfectly above and no longer touched.

YMMV significantly. If the hoof prints don't lead you to this zebra, look for the horse and make sure you load the bearings in the headset before you tighten the stem.

cnguyen0320

Yep. That's what I did. There is no play so I don't think there is a problem. The gap does annoy me though. I might take it into an LBS and see what they say but at its current state it seems ridable. Haven't taken it out yet though.

rpenmanparker 

What exactly do you mean by the bike shop did their thing? Cut the steerer ?

cnguyen0320

yeah

skoobywrx

is the bearing seated all the way?

unterhausen

are you sure the bearings are in the right way?

coasting 

tip...

when i messed around with headset, i put each part onto a string. this way i don't worry abut which order and which way to replace. it is all kept together.

sfrider 

I second carefully managing things as they come off. Zip ties are good too, especially when replacing bearing carts, cassettes, pedals, etc, to keep the old one together. If I plan to put it back in I usually lay it out exactly as it came off - maintaining order, orientation, and L/R sidedness (where such things apply).

danmc

You mean my technique of allowing stuff to fly off the bike, roll across the floor and under desks, shelves, and in the litter box, is not ideal?

DXchulo

That gap definitely should not be there. I don't know what the hell some of these other people are thinking. Either the headset's not installed properly or the fork wasn't cut to the proper length for the amount/size of spacers you have.

Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » Threadless Headset Service


If you can't figure it out, take it back to the shop. At the very least you're going to get a lot of dirt in there, especially on a rainy day.

Team Sarcasm

You forgot the expander being lost in the ST, turning your bike over to make it fall out, having your frame fall and twerking all your cables\bar tape (on a bike w/less than 100 miles on it)



In my original post about this.....I left the cable part out lol.

RJM

I'm glad I'm not the only one this happens to.

jdip

Twerking handlebars, hot!

eja_ bottecchia

It IS ideal....for your LBS when you take your bike to them to fix what you did.

wphamilton

Sorry if this sounds too obvious, but upside down bearings maybe?

Team Sarcasm

Also OP, if your steer tube was cut incorrectly either take it back or get a thin spacer and throw it above the stem to give the top cap something to press down on.

A bigger bottom spacer will place the stem bolts above the top of the tube and may mess up the steerer tube in the long run from the stem not being fully clamped up the tube.