Doesn’t look safe to me, you need to find a replacement for the star.
Eggert22 on
The star is just for adjusting the play between bearings. The stem is actually secured on the shaft by the screws on either side.
It does not look pretty but if it still works I would leave it as it is maybe get a stem cap if it’s lost.
If there are no obvious other damages through a fall or sth. of course.
Ornery_Description34 on
You can buy replacement caps that come with a new insert, that one looks like someone tightened it harder than it needed to be and pulled out.
It should be fine to hold the cap, but there’s all kinds of cool ones out there.
Vast_Web5931 on
Go get your bike inspected. The star nut should not walk its way up the steerer like that. That it did indicates that the headset was improperly adjusted at some point. This is a 15 minute job when performed by a competent mechanic and a less than $50 problem to take care of. Not taking care of it the right way could mean a more expensive problem or crash down the road. Just call the shop and tell them you need a new start nut installed for your 1 1/8” threadless headset.
nateknutson on
That’s a weird problem to have, almost like someone tried removing it on purpose (which is difficult) but stopped at the end. Perhaps someone managed to damage it while installing, and then it pulled up at some point after that while adjusting preload.
Here because it’s mangled and halfway poking out anyway, the move would be pop it out the rest of the way with a slide hammer and install a new one. Normally removing them is far more hassle than it’s worth, but this one is almost there now. If you want to roll the dice you could try just sinking it back down and see if it holds adequately.
There’s no safety concern here, but when star nuts don’t do their job right (not common) it can be maddening to adjust your headset, and it looks like this one has already been through that.
DefNL on
You can pull up the star pretty easily of you want. I guess someone did for whatever reason. You can push it down though. Although I don’t think it’s necessary, because your stem seems to be secured using two screws as well.
6 Comments
Doesn’t look safe to me, you need to find a replacement for the star.
The star is just for adjusting the play between bearings. The stem is actually secured on the shaft by the screws on either side.
It does not look pretty but if it still works I would leave it as it is maybe get a stem cap if it’s lost.
If there are no obvious other damages through a fall or sth. of course.
You can buy replacement caps that come with a new insert, that one looks like someone tightened it harder than it needed to be and pulled out.
It should be fine to hold the cap, but there’s all kinds of cool ones out there.
Go get your bike inspected. The star nut should not walk its way up the steerer like that. That it did indicates that the headset was improperly adjusted at some point. This is a 15 minute job when performed by a competent mechanic and a less than $50 problem to take care of. Not taking care of it the right way could mean a more expensive problem or crash down the road. Just call the shop and tell them you need a new start nut installed for your 1 1/8” threadless headset.
That’s a weird problem to have, almost like someone tried removing it on purpose (which is difficult) but stopped at the end. Perhaps someone managed to damage it while installing, and then it pulled up at some point after that while adjusting preload.
Here because it’s mangled and halfway poking out anyway, the move would be pop it out the rest of the way with a slide hammer and install a new one. Normally removing them is far more hassle than it’s worth, but this one is almost there now. If you want to roll the dice you could try just sinking it back down and see if it holds adequately.
There’s no safety concern here, but when star nuts don’t do their job right (not common) it can be maddening to adjust your headset, and it looks like this one has already been through that.
You can pull up the star pretty easily of you want. I guess someone did for whatever reason. You can push it down though. Although I don’t think it’s necessary, because your stem seems to be secured using two screws as well.