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headset and turning handlebars for storage -- help?

  • 07-07-2012 7:10pm
    #1
    brownian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,741 ✭✭✭


    Hi;

    I turned the bars on my bike to make it easier to store with a load of other bikes in the shed. The stem on my bike is a single piece of steel with the headset (ie it;s L-shaped, with the long arm of the L being the stem, and the short arm having the headset bolt in it). To turn the bars, I loosened the headset bolt; turned the bars, tightened bolt - all good. Stored the bike. Now I'm trying to put the bars back to normal, and am finding that in order to get them fully straight I have to
    - loosed the headset bolt a lot (say 8mm above its usual position)
    - lift and wiggle the bars to get them to go straight.

    But now I can't tighten the headset bolt - it only goes down a little way; and the bars remain free to move in one direction. If I turn the bars in that direction (towards the way they were stored) then I can tighten the headset some more...but there's always free play towards the "stored" direction; and so the bike is unrideable.

    Am I doing something stupid ? Or have I inadvertently knackered the headset ?

    The bike is an old (1996/7) Mongoose IBOC hard tail MTB.

    Thanks a lot for any tips!


Comments

  • #2
    cdaly_
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    Typically, such a stem has a tapered nut at the other end of the bolt you mentioned. The standard way to adjust this is to:
    1. Loosen the bolt a couple of turns.
    2. Tap the bolt head down with a hammer (it might need a whack but should move fairly easily).
    3. Adjust stem.
    4. Tighten bolt (which pulls the tapered bolt up into the stem).

    At this point, maybe you took the bolt right out of the nut and it's not threading in correctly. Try loosening the bolt a bit, then pull the stem upwards out of the headset. The taper nut will either come with it or will remain behind. It should then be possible to turn the bike over and have the nut fall out or poke it through from under the fork...


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