treebound 

I just bought a 2010 Felt F5 c/f road bike and while looking things over closer and making some minor adjustments I see some marks on the steerer tube expander (insert correct modern terminology for the insert that isn’t a star nut).

What does the H<—>S stand for? At first I was thinking Hard<—>Soft but I don’t think this is a vibration dampener, and I don’t want to take it apart yet.

Thanks in advance for any information, hopefully the photo will automatically resize.

edit: I just rechecked and there is a hex pocket down below the threaded hole so I will assume this is a simple expander. Still doesn’t explain what the H-S means though. Oh well.

oldbobcat

That's an "S," not a "5." Probably just another way of saying "lefty-loosey, righty-tighty." The headset is just a pair of bearings that the fork steerer revolves on. If your headset isn't giving you any problems (i.e. it doesn't rattle over bumps and it doesn't bind) I'd just put the cap back on and forget about it. If you must fiddle with it, here is the Park Tool page on headset service. https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...eadset-service

treebound 

Thanks