Plainsman

In a previous thread, I described a “clunk” feeling around the headset of my road bike (2014, integrated headset, carbon steerer) that would happen after a hard stop. After many attempts to re-adjust the preload on it, etc, I took it to the shop and simply had the headset replaced (as well as the top and bottom cups,etc basically anything that wasn’t part of the carbon frame). The bike is now back home with a nice new Cane Creek headset - but the bars still will slightly self center. If you gently move the bar towards center, it will gently snap into place when it reaches center, almost as if dropping into a groove. We’ve backed off the preload once already, but it’s still doing it. I’m out of ideas. Is this indicative of a bigger issue? Thoughts? It’s an almost 10 year old bike I know, but I love it and want to keep it going!

Andrew R Stewart 

How long ago was the Cane Creek headset installed? If you had a real bike shop (vs a friend) do the work they might have some service warranty period. When a bearing is new the ball track is so smooth that the bearing will spin easily with way too much preload. But that huge preload will lead to fretting/brinelling real fast.

Did the bike/new headset have this notching into place bearing movement right from the start or did it take a few rides to notice it? Andy

Plainsman

Thanks Andy, quality shop and just had it done. Haven’t even ridden it yet. When I got it home and noticed the issue I took it back and they promptly worked on it. The pre-load on the bearings was reduced, and at the shop the bars seemed to rotate freely. However, getting home with it an hour or so later I checked it out at my house and the issue had returned. The headset is brand new and has zero rides on it. This same issue was present when the old headset was in place. The shop is going to look at it again for me, I’m just trying to figure out what the cause might be because none of us have it figured out yet.

Andrew R Stewart 

Cables can add a significant amount of steering input, especially if you have casing under drop bar tape. I'll look forward to the follow up. Andy