Hi all
I’ve recently swapped forks from one bike to another (same steerer size etc) and the headset sounds and feels awful. It’s a semi integrated headset (cane creek on a giant mtb) so I’ve popped out the old cartridge bearings and fitted new ones. However that’s not really made much difference.
The old forks were seized in the frame - the bike hadn’t been ridden in years when I got it.
It looks like the old fork had no crown race and the new one does. Should a semi integrated headset still have a crown race? It’s almost as though the crown race is pressing on the cup rather than the bearing/seal and that’s the cause.
Can it be the wrong size crown race? Is it simply the headset is dead?
When I nip up the star spangled washer I go from no noise but play in the headset to no play but noise and there’s no middle ground.
Opinions please! Thanks in advance.
Rick
The races may be completely different between the bike the forks came off,and the Giant.look them up here https://www.canecreek.com/products/headsets/ and see?
The crown race (generally, some carbon steerers dont have them) matches the headset, not the fork. You need to switch it over to the new fork before doing anything else
Cheers guys.
The headset in the old bike has sealed bearings and the one I’m trying to work on has cartridge/cage bearings.
I can’t see a crown race on the fork which came off the giant. There is a crown race on the fork I’m putting onto the giant - which is the fork which was used with sealed bearings/external headset previously. Do all semi integrated headsets definitely require a crown race? Either it didn’t have one before or I’ve lost it (it’ll be somewhere in the shit hole of a garage I’m trying to work in - time to tidy up I guess).
Thanks
Rick
Do all semi integrated headsets definitely require a crown race?
yes and, as above, it needs to be the right one.
Thansk again. I’ll tidy up. Stripped 2 bikes and was supposed to be an easy afternoon job but I got carried away with doing extra little bits so there are bolts, washers, remains of frame pivot bearings and headset pieces everywhere over the course of a fortnight now.
I’ll find the old race for that headset and go from there. Cheers all.
Is the bearing seated the right way in the cup? I'm not that impressed with the sealing in Cane Creek bearings. Replaced the headset on my wife's Trek and after a couple of wet rides, the lower seized and got a bit "grindy".
All sorted. Swapped crown races and it feels bang on.
The one I thought I’d lost was black, and so far down the steerer and covered in grime that it looked like part of the forks. All swapped and both feel 100 times better.
Thanks again for the help.
