Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Okay. We're going to talk about adjusting a bicycle headset.
So this headset is called a threadless headset. It's the most common for modern bikes now.
It's very easy to adjust as long as you adjust it properly. I'll show you what it looks like
improperly adjusted and then properly adjusted.
So what you're going to need is you're going to need usually a four millimeter or five
millimeter or possibly six millimeter hex wrench or Allen key. And what you're going
to do is you're going to loosen the stem, this piece right here is called the stem and
the bolts are usually right back here or they could be right here, depending on the brand.
But this is the most common style.
So you'll know that you have a threadless headset if you don't have anything that resembles
like a large nut right on top of here. There should be like two large nuts, I'll show you
that in the next segment when we talk about threaded headsets. So now these are nice and
loose. This bolt right here on the top can be adjusted and basically what that goes to
is it goes to like a star nut or a compression plug inside of the actual stir tube which
is the tube that goes through here and basically as you tighten it. So I'll tighten it real
tight, then you can see it's not going to move. Then if I loosen it, it slides back
and forth really, really, really easily. Now if it's too loose, you'll see what happens
if I take, you can see it wobble back and forth. This is really dangerous cause it can
actually, it can fracture your stir tube, it breaks your bearings, it destroys your
headset. It's just really, really bad news and cost you a lot of money. And also can
be very dangerous.
So I'm going to make sure that this is tight enough but not too tight. So the way to figure
that out is to basically, either have it on the stand or have it elevated somehow and
feel the fork down here, feel the stem up here and kind of wobble it back and forth,
feels pretty good right there. Check to see if it goes back and forth. That's usually
the easiest way to see if your headset's adjusted properly. Once you have that at the right
tension, basically so it's not too loose and not too tight. You also want to make sure
that you're not over tightening it because that will break your bearings as well. Then
you want to adjust your stem to make sure it's nice and straight with your wheel. So
when you're riding, it doesn't look like you're riding sideways and your arms are like this
when you're actually riding straight. Then you want to make sure that you tighten down
the stem. This is really important because I know a lot of people that have adjusted
their headset, forgotten to tighten down their stem, go out for a ride, their handle bars
goes one way and their wheels goes the other way. And they're face first in the ground
and that's never too much fun when you are trying to go for a ride.
So make sure that you torque down to the right specification. Every manufacturer's a little
different. These are 5 Newtons so basically you can use a torque wrench if you'd like
to get the proper torque.
So that is adjusting a threadless headset.