I was recently sessioning a step-up jump with a friend (see photo below), and one time I managed to get bucked forward after the takeoff, hit my front wheel into the back side of the jump and go OTB. No serious injuries, the bike seemed okay, so I jumped again and cleared it just like I did many times before. We continued the ride but I noticed very loud creaks every time I jump. The obvious suspicion was that it’s the headset bearings that are creaking since they might’ve got damaged in the crash. There was no play noticable in the headset, but we still disassembled it to take a look. After seeing the headset cups are plastic, we suspected that they might’ve developed some play for the bearings to shift forwards and backwards. We disassembled it, inspected the headtube from the inside for any damage and it seemed fine. I put in new headset bearings with new metal cups (greased the outside of the cups and the bearings before assembly), thinking it would solve the issue but it stayed exactly the same (see video below). Creaks are very loud and sound like carbon cracking. Tightening the headset more doesn’t eliminate creaking, just makes it a bit harder to reproduce and will damage the bearings. So, it’s not that the plastic cups are deformed, since the new cups didn’t eliminate the issue.
Now I’m suspecting it’s the headtube of the frame that got damaged, maybe developed some play for the headset cups to shift forwards and backwards which might be making that horrible sound. Also thinking it might be something related to the fork. I can still try to put in a different fork just to eliminate that, but it seems far more likely to be a headtube issue.
Any thoughts on how to fix it? In the meantime, how safe is it to ride as-is?
Frame (and complete bike) is 2023 Bulls Wild Ronin RS (carbon) and the fork is Rockshox Pike Select +.
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Video of me reproducing the creaking: [https://www.playbook.com/s/brenzle/NXxmeTPMzPar8grw1pbuyeKD?assetToken=SwtUVLNhrNjjz12NNqJeqCf5](https://www.playbook.com/s/brenzle/NXxmeTPMzPar8grw1pbuyeKD?assetToken=SwtUVLNhrNjjz12NNqJeqCf5)
Photo of the step-up jump: [https://www.playbook.com/s/brenzle/cwyyKfp82bmiXAFKWgBpxRgV?assetToken=V4NdkGFzqUGU12JUSrRZGNdA](https://www.playbook.com/s/brenzle/cwyyKfp82bmiXAFKWgBpxRgV?assetToken=V4NdkGFzqUGU12JUSrRZGNdA)
by _brenzle