Hi All,
3 months ago, I bought a Felt DA from a friend of mine. He told me that I would need to take it to a LBS to have the forks adjusted because there was a little play in them.(which was more than a little) My LBS here in Fort Myers said to bring it over and they would fix it. Well, they couldn't figure out how to get it apart. Not real reassuring. So I looked up a Felt authorized service repair shop and took it there. Guess what, they couldn't figure out how to get the play out. They were able to make it a tad better, but still not race ready. I got on these forums and read and read and read and found no solution. I have been around bikes my whole life and thought about taking it apart myself but didn't want to risk not being able to get it back together before the race. Well, more reading and watching the videos and studying the pdf diagrams from Felt, I had no choice but to dig in.
Good diagram.
http://www.feltbicycles.com/...0Instructions(3).pdf It took me all of about 20 minutes to figure out where exactly the problem is. The actual problem is that the Steerer Shaft (the part that is actually supposed to be machined to the fork body) is pulling up/out of the fork body. This then causes the bearings to become loose against the races causing the play. Yes, you can tighten the Steerer Nut down which tightens the bearings and races. However, hit a decent sized bump and wha la, loose again.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that many of the folks in these forums that have been complaining (and rightfully so) about this same mysterious problem, are/were having this very same issue.
If you look in the hole on the backside of the fork (where you access the front caliper bolt), you may very well see that it is difficult to access the caliper bolt due to the base of the steerer shaft either lifted, turned or both. I had to put a cresent wrench on the base of the steerer shaft and turn it slightly counter clockwise to get the hole to line up horizontally. Then I had to use a rubber mallot to tap the steerer tube back down into the fork body.
I realize that this was a bit long winded but I didn't see anything like this in any of the other forums and wanted to try to save other fellow Felt riders from this same nightmare.
Super Dave, have you heard of this before or know of a solution to the problem?
Additionally, if there is no fix, is there a different fork that would fit my DA that would match my bike and not come loose all the time?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Shane.