I bought this Motobecane a few weeks ago to fix up and use – It had a few problems which are mostly repaired. One thing I haven't come around to fix is the head tube play.
When you hold the front brake, and move the bike forward, you can notice that there is play in the head tube. I would say that I can feel it move in any direction by about half a millimeter.
Normally, I would've just tightened up firmly. But it's already very tight – in either direction, which makes me worry. Am I missing something? Or should I use some WD40 to loosen up the thread?
by PenneOrPain
2 Comments
What are you tightening? this is a threaded headset, so the bolt on top of the quill stem doesn’t do anything for the preload of the headset. Instead, you’ll need to tighten down the knurled part of the threaded headset until there is no play, then tighten down everything above it. It looks like the cantilever brake routing also meshes with the knurled part, so you may be better off loosening everything above the knurled part so that you don’t change the position of the cantilever brake routing.
https://preview.redd.it/aa6zccv7e6gf1.png?width=390&format=png&auto=webp&s=e79ac79d58f496b41c697e6850b42c297344002e
To add to pauadiver’s comment and image…
When you install, you dial the knurled adjustment nut (1) until there’s no play but swings freely. Then you lock into place by tightening the locking nut (2).
https://preview.redd.it/3i1lha24g6gf1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=347588dfdd55f4bee88625028d05a93473763294
For uninstall, if you want to move 1, you first have to loosen 2.
It may be very tight.