I’ve noticed some play in my road bike headset. How do you know when to replace it? What differences do you feel if you upgrade it? Thanks.
Sounds like it is just loose.
I have seen headsets get crunchy or stiff moving in just one direction.
X2 in regards to it being loose. Gently tighten it until there’s no play then back it off a smidgen. If it works smoothly then it’s OK. If it’s still sloppy or won’t adjust easily, it’s probably time for a replacement.
you will know when to replace it when it ratchets when you turn - you will feel the bike will not turn smoothly.
Yeah, there was definitely some play in the headset, but I had a hell of a time tightening it. It was almost like the fork/steerer tube wasn’t setting properly. Finally got the play out, but I’ve never had that problem before on any of my bikes.
When I took the fork out to check everything out, I notced that the carbon steerer tube still had a relatively large manufacturer’s sticker on it. Shouldn’t that have been removed during assembly?
Thanks.
If you took better care of your bike it probably wouldn’t be an issue. My guess is you have a beautiful bike that you sweat all over, never clean, than expect a bike shop to clean and tune it a few days before your next race.
Nope.
i have the noise cancelling headsets and all the techno music is messed up…all the other old people music sounds fine…how do u fix the frequency?
One of the situations that will cause the greatest headset wear is riding when it’s loose- the bearing races can get pitted due to impact with the bearings when you hit a bump, and then you get that “indexed” steering. One way to tell if the headset is “indexed” is to try and ride no-handed-- the subtle balance changes you instinctively do won’t translate into subtle movement at the head tube. I say no handed because when you’re steering with your hand you can exert a lot more force and it may be harder to notice that way.
The other way you can hurt a headset is through overtightening, which presses the bearings into the races to pit them, resulting in the same condition. So you should be shooting for the Goldilock’s adjustment- just right!
It’s shot when you can’t adjust it tight enough to get out the play without the bearings binding (you’ll feel a lot of added friction). Also if you get “indexed steering” it’s shot (back before cartridge bearings when we were poor college students, we used to remove one ball so the balls and the dents in the race wouldn’t line up and try to milk it for the rest of the season).
A new headset will just work the way it was intended to, it won’t upgrade performance. Like a lot of components (ex. seatposts) paying more may get you lighter weight and more durability. That said, hard to go wrong with Chris King.
Thanks. Great advice everyone.
Just don’t touch anything on your bike leave it to a professional
.
You know, that’s probably a good idea 
Still learning to do basic maintenance/repairs on my own, but do-it-yourself books and youtube videos only take you so far.
It could be the preload device or improper setup of it, the fork, or even the stem. The last bike I bought had a headset that kept loosening. I bought a new headset, several different expansion plugs, a new fork, and finally a new stem before the problem was fixed.
Still learning to do basic maintenance/repairs on my own,
This is essential, IMO. You can’t have a professional with you 24 x 7 and they might hand the simpler tasks off to a helper that’s less skilled than you are.
I had a similar adjustment problem with my (professionally installed) fork. It was caused by the adjustment nut not seating in the steerer tube. I replaced the adjustment hardware and the problem was solved.
Forgot to mention that this headset problem is on a new bike. I think it was assembled a bit too quickly/carelessly.
If everything is clean and properly lubricated, make sure it is all put together correctly. As others have said, if the bearings are damaged from banging around a lot, the just replace them, on the internal headset bikes you just toss in new bearings and such, it’s easier than the pressed in headsets.
That said, I seem to get longer life out of the pressed in type, esp. the Chris King model, it’s really well designed.