So I took a bike mechanics workshop as a beginner....It was a free class...and we whizzed through everything pretty fast...Anyways...I finished my bike, however the fork seems to be loose inside the stem. When I tightened everything up and installed another washer....it wasn't loose anymore but it was so tight I could hardly steer the wheel....Help me!!! I can't seem to find a happy medium...Its an old frame, stem, but the headset is brand new (and threaded)...I don't think that I need to grease anything up because its brand new...what am I doing wrong?

I don't know how to fix it but don't leave it together when it is really tight otherwise you run the risk of pitting the races and causing your steering to be indexed...not fun

i think the headset is too tight?
how long have you had it like this?
dont do anything to it till you have the right tools to loosen it up again, your bearings might be shot.

-kev

Hmmm... best to see the problem. Generally you grease the bearings if they are loose or caged (actually always)... headset adjustment is moderately tricky, but not hard once you figure it out. Threaded, you usually need two wrenches, one for the topnut, one for the locknut... The old school trick is to use your brake (if you got one, that is)... if you hear a click from the headset area when holding down the front brake, the HS needs tightening; if when you hold the bike up the wheel does not flop easily slide to side, you're too tight. There's a bit of a fine medium.

If you want me to look at it, I can, assuming you're in RVA. Or you can take it by Re-cycles on Cary, they will likely help you out... they seem to be pretty good about helping folks out. In fact, ask 'em, if you're in RVA, I'm guessing that's where the class was...

"Stem" generally refers to the part that inserts into the steerer tube, and holds the bars on the other end.

What do you mean you added a washer?

Grease and put both sets of bearings on, one on the cone on the fork, one in the cone in the upper headset. Insert the fork into the bike, then screw on the upper cup so that the fork rotates freely but there's no wiggling the fork whatsoever. Hold the fork and upper cup steady and tighten down the lock nut onto the upper cup.

EDIT: He^ wins. I'm still confused where you added a washer though.

if you don't have a repair book this can be helpful...
scroll down the page to "adjustment"

https://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=127

Its not likely the bearings if they are pretty new. You just need to adjust the headset. Usually one wrench is fine, you just need a headset wrench and adjust the threaded race and the locknut against each other. It's kinda tricky but just get a feel for it and you'll know. The trick is to not tighten the threaded race too tight and use the locknut to keep the race from loosening. All you really need is a headset wrench.

It sounds like you have a threadless stem. If you do, measure your fork's steertube diameter. Is it 1"?
measure your stem clamp diameter where the steertube is inserted. Is it 1 1/8th. If yes you have the wrong size stem and that would be the reason why your fork is loose inside the stem. If you want I can send you a shim to fix this (free - all I need is postage or you can just get the proper 1" stem. Once you have the stem, cut your steertube down so it is about 2mm shorter than your spacers + stem. Then adjust properly and tighten stem. Hope this helps.

Is this a bait? If so, FUNNY AWIPE!

If not:

1. adding grease to the bearings and slopping grease on the crown and all working surfaces is recommended. Also, cleaning the threads on the steerer is also a good idea (i.e. dirt here will get pushed into the bearings when you screw the top of the head set on.)

2. I am guessing that the washer you are referring to was under the lock nut on the top of the head set. If so, the reason why this was required is because the steerer tube is too long. The lock nut was bottoming on the end of the steerer tube which prevents your races and ball bearing from making good contact.

3. assumption, the BB's are in a cage: by any chance, did you assemble any of the cages the wrong way? There is a cup side and cone side and the order is cone-cup-cup-cone.

4. Cross your fingers that the problem is as described in "3", if not and you managed to tighten so far that you can't turn the fork, then there is great risk that you have buggered up something, and you'll need a new headset.

5. adjusting headset already posted by others, but let us know if there are additional questions

6. if the headset is "threadless", loosen the bolts on the stem and back off the top bolt until everything works again. The preload on a threadless set is silly low. the HS may still be buggered by that much load.

7. congrats, it takes conviction to change out a headset!

try facing the steer tube, and fork crown. there could be paint built up or any kind of dirt.

no i said it was threaded

Yeah but you also said

Now how would that be possible if you have a threaded stem?

FYI, with threaded forks the stem goes inside the fork and with threadless forks the fork goes inside the stem.

One of your two statement had to be wrong so I picked the one that made the most sense to me. Anyway sorry to not have been of more help. Good luck!

Same here, my guess was that the fork and stem was loose relative to the head tube.

To OP, it would help end this question if you can show a picture of the bike/HS or share the brand and model of the HS