Hey folks.
I'm a little puzzled here with cockpit installation on my gravel bike. I recently cut the chimney on the steerer and installed everything, however I discovered a slight play in the headset on today's ride.
Now I'm wondering how to preload the headset so there is no movement when holding on the front brake and rocking the bike back and forth.
The good old starnut does the job when tightening down the top cap, but with the compression plug, there is no downward force when tightening the topcap, only the lateral force as shown above.
Should I be able to press down on the stem with my hands enough while installing it (standing won the ground of course) to eliminate this?
I'm semi worried the structrural integrity is not the same if it's not tight enough.
by Ambitious_Scratch_64
5 Comments
The compression plug takes the place of the star nut. The top cap works the same to preload by threading into the compression plug, same as if it was a star nut.
Hard to tell but you might need an additional spacer above or below the stem. It looks like a tiny gap between stem and top cap. If the top cap is hitting the top of the steer tube before the stem, you aren’t preloading the headset, but just tightening the top cap against the steer tube.
You are mistaken.
You preload the headset the same way one would on any bike with a starnut. Just be mindful of the torque spec for everything involved.
There’s some kind of a flaw in your thinking.
A starnut is pushed into the steerer, and by its design cannot slide back up. An expander is tightened against the walls of the steerer, and if properly tightened also cannot slide back up with reasonable force.
Other than that, how you then take the play out the headset works exactly the same.
If you have trouble taking out the play , is it possible that the steerer is slightly too long? If the top cap makes direct contant with the end of the steerer or with the expander, tightening the top cap bolt won’t remove the play.
Ah ok, I get it now. Once the compression plug is fit in the steerer tube, the tightening off the topcap should compress things downward like with a starnut. I might have been too cautious with not overloading the compression plug.. thanks everyone
Btw, there’s no gap between stem and topcap. It’s just the design of the stem that’s not fully round. And the top screw is not above the steerer or the little ledge of the plug either. I’ll post more pics if I cannot manage.