They get loose sometimes. Loosen until it sits flush and tighten. Go to 10 Nm.
pinguu_ on
You are missing half a spacer to get it tight
PobBrobert on
No, that should not be sticking out, and yes, it’s what’s causing your headset to be loose.
If you did this yourself, you need to put down the tools and go to a bike shop. Even with the correct number of spacers, this current configuration is very dangerous.
kurai-samurai on
No it’s not, the bung is meant to be snug to the top of steerer. Going to assume that you have taken another spacer off to show us this.
I hope that’s an extra long bung though, otherwise it’s not doing the main job it’s designed for.
Did you cut the steerer with your teeth?
Northern_light200 on
Yep, the steerer tube is to long. Put a spacer between cap and stemmt. Than you can adjust the headset.
SnollyG on
In theory, it could be fine if it still allows you to preload.
But 1. it looks ugly, and 2. if you don’t understand those words, then it will be a good idea to try to understand how threadless headsets work.
your_pet_is_average on
You need the top cap to sit just above that bit, so needs half a spacer to protrude above the top of your stack. but tbh you really need to know what you’re doing here, this is important so you need to make sure you understand your order of operations. First off, stem bolts need to be loosened up before inserting that compression plug. Plug goes in, if it has a bolt expander that is used to expand it until it doesn’t spin inside your steerer. Then top cap tightened on top of it. Then stem bolts. The reason is, compression plug and top cap work together to apply tension and preload your headset, and they can’t do that with the stem bolts tight around the steerer.
If this doesn’t make sense recommend watching a park tools video or going to a shop.
Expert-Reward-4203 on
You just need to add another spacer and tighten it down. Done.
wallysenna66 on
On top of what’s already been said remove the compression plug and apply carbon paste to help with keeping the plug in place. But it really shouldn’t take that much torque on the cap to take the play out of the headset in the first place. You may have applied too much torque in an effort to remove the play.
Broad-Conclusion2584 on
If your plug is not reaching down to the lower stem bolt, do not ride like this
Oh boy. The answers are great. This is a very much a salvageable situation and a learning experience. It may be good to have your LBS give you a lesson on how to tighten/adjust your headset.
dopkick on
The answer is a bit more complicated than posts on here are fully and clearly capturing.
The point of the cap is actually fairly limited. It allows you to preload the stem, spacers, headset, and steerer so it’s all nice and snug… so you can torque the stem pinch bolts to spec and hold it in place. Once the pinch bolts are properly tightened the cap serves no purpose other than keeping water out and being cosmetic. You could remove it or change it and there would be no risk of the steering system mechanically failing as a result. The stem pinch bolts do the actual work.
So is there something wrong here? Probably. If it prevents you from properly squeezing everything together so you can transfer the job to the stem pinch bolts then there’s something wrong. This is almost certainly (99.5%) the case here.
Okay upon further inspection (zooming in) you seem to have an issue with the compression plug not being fully seated as well. Fortunately this is also fairly easily solved. You want to tighten the plug just enough so there is a small amount of resistance when pushing it in to the steerer. It should not just fall in nor should it be hard to push in. If it just falls in it may be hard for it to grip the inside when you go to tighten it, and if it’s too tight you might damage something. You just want a little pressure resisting it going in.
13 Comments
They get loose sometimes. Loosen until it sits flush and tighten. Go to 10 Nm.
You are missing half a spacer to get it tight
No, that should not be sticking out, and yes, it’s what’s causing your headset to be loose.
If you did this yourself, you need to put down the tools and go to a bike shop. Even with the correct number of spacers, this current configuration is very dangerous.
No it’s not, the bung is meant to be snug to the top of steerer. Going to assume that you have taken another spacer off to show us this.
I hope that’s an extra long bung though, otherwise it’s not doing the main job it’s designed for.
Did you cut the steerer with your teeth?
Yep, the steerer tube is to long. Put a spacer between cap and stemmt. Than you can adjust the headset.
In theory, it could be fine if it still allows you to preload.
But 1. it looks ugly, and 2. if you don’t understand those words, then it will be a good idea to try to understand how threadless headsets work.
You need the top cap to sit just above that bit, so needs half a spacer to protrude above the top of your stack. but tbh you really need to know what you’re doing here, this is important so you need to make sure you understand your order of operations. First off, stem bolts need to be loosened up before inserting that compression plug. Plug goes in, if it has a bolt expander that is used to expand it until it doesn’t spin inside your steerer. Then top cap tightened on top of it. Then stem bolts. The reason is, compression plug and top cap work together to apply tension and preload your headset, and they can’t do that with the stem bolts tight around the steerer.
If this doesn’t make sense recommend watching a park tools video or going to a shop.
You just need to add another spacer and tighten it down. Done.
On top of what’s already been said remove the compression plug and apply carbon paste to help with keeping the plug in place. But it really shouldn’t take that much torque on the cap to take the play out of the headset in the first place. You may have applied too much torque in an effort to remove the play.
If your plug is not reaching down to the lower stem bolt, do not ride like this
https://preview.redd.it/3xvu1ze54vxf1.png?width=1224&format=png&auto=webp&s=1805c852aeea22a349f78e154c17bc73c14001b1
No no bueno
Oh boy. The answers are great. This is a very much a salvageable situation and a learning experience. It may be good to have your LBS give you a lesson on how to tighten/adjust your headset.
The answer is a bit more complicated than posts on here are fully and clearly capturing.
The point of the cap is actually fairly limited. It allows you to preload the stem, spacers, headset, and steerer so it’s all nice and snug… so you can torque the stem pinch bolts to spec and hold it in place. Once the pinch bolts are properly tightened the cap serves no purpose other than keeping water out and being cosmetic. You could remove it or change it and there would be no risk of the steering system mechanically failing as a result. The stem pinch bolts do the actual work.
So is there something wrong here? Probably. If it prevents you from properly squeezing everything together so you can transfer the job to the stem pinch bolts then there’s something wrong. This is almost certainly (99.5%) the case here.
Put another small spacer on. Preload the headset properly. Consider switching to a bling cap – Wolf Tooth has caps with an integrated 5mm spacer that would not only fix your problem but offer a minor cosmetic bump. https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/collections/headset-related/products/stem-cap-with-integrated-5mm-spacer
Okay upon further inspection (zooming in) you seem to have an issue with the compression plug not being fully seated as well. Fortunately this is also fairly easily solved. You want to tighten the plug just enough so there is a small amount of resistance when pushing it in to the steerer. It should not just fall in nor should it be hard to push in. If it just falls in it may be hard for it to grip the inside when you go to tighten it, and if it’s too tight you might damage something. You just want a little pressure resisting it going in.