CK Headset Question

[Louis]

When you view your threadless CK headset from the side (perpendicular to the axis of the steerer tube) how much of a gap (if any) do you see between the angular shaped thingie that you slide (or encourage with a crown race setting tool and and hammer, in my case) down the steerer tube (the thing you see in the pic on the left with the words NoThreadSet printed on it) and the upper fixed cup / bearing? On mine I see about 0.5 mm and since this is the first threadless headset I've ever done I don't know if that's right or not.

Obviously that particular spacer can't ride directly on the fixed cup part, since the cup is fixed and the spacer rotates with the steerer, but it seems to me that there should be less space than what I'm seeing. In these pics you can't see any gap at all, but since we are looking at the headset at a slight angle I would not expect to see any air at all.

TIA
Louis


http://chrisking.com/files/images/headsets/Sotto_Voce_Black_Compare.jpg

[austex]

I had a similar issue in which a "tall" King upper piece was inadvertently sent in place of a "standard" height piece. Look for the small diamond on the piece and see if the inscribed letter is an 'A' or an 'N'. I'll have to go look at mine to remember which is which. King can supply just that piece.

Tom

[NateM]

Louis,
I built up a bike with a 1" King NoThreadset and have a similar problem.I sent a pix and explanation, including measurements off to King. They at 1st thought it could be a mismatched top but the letters on headset checked out. They feel that there is a problem and wanted me to send the headset in for repair (replacement). Since I am using a painted Heads up extender from Serotta I can't do this without having to replace that and repaint. I just run it like it is and try not to look at pix like this one. King will take care of you though. Nate

[Jeff N.]

There's alway going to be a small gap. All my bikes have CK's and all have that slight gap. Jeff N.

[totally_fixxate]

do you have the plastic scuff washer underneath the bearing cap?

[Volant]

All my CK's have sat pretty much flush. I've never had that gap as in the posted pic. If you figure it out, please post the 'why' it happens and how to correct it. Good luck!

[Louis]

do you have the plastic scuff washer underneath the bearing cap?

Nope - at least I got that right. It's on top of the bearing cap.

I sent CK a question asking about this and they had two suggestions:

1) Maybe the o-ring is not compressed as much as it should be, or

2) Maybe the head tube was not cut square and therefore causing the upper cup to not align with the bearing cap. (that is, they could be tilted relative to each other)

I know with 100% certainty that it is not #2, since the gap is identical all the way around the circumference.

I'll have to investigate #1.

Thanks guys.
Louis

[cmg]

"Maybe the o-ring is not compressed as much as it should be." could you get a split ring from another headset and replace the o-ring. seems to be a lot problems related to the o-ring.

[jchasse]

There's alway going to be a small gap. All my bikes have CK's and all have that slight gap. Jeff N.

I've got 6 bikes at the moment with King headsets, and they all seem to have the gap. After the 4th one, I stopped worrying about it.