Loose forks on Ridley Kanzo

[20130814]

Hi,

Being a clueless eejit, I tried to fit this handlebar stem to my Ridley Kanzo (I know it is upside down on the photo, but I didn't try and fit it the way round that is shown on the photo):



However, when I was finished, and I put on the front brake and gently rocked back and forth, there was some play in the forks.

I therefore replaced the original stem, thinking, I must undo my foolish mistake,

Sadly, the loose forks issue remains now I have put the original stem back in place.

Side views of original stem back in place:





Front view:



I made sure that the bearing races at the top and bottom are securely bedded in, left the bolts on the stem loose and tightened the top cap bolt then tightened the side bolts again on the stem.

However, whatever I do, on either the old or new stem, there is still play in the forks when I do the brake test.

I have watched this video:

How To Tighten Your Headset | Road Bike Maintenance

But unfortunately it didn't answer my question.

I wondered if anyone might be able to advise please?

Thanks

Jim

[SimonCelsa]

Perhaps you have omitted a thin spacer from the stack, or was there one originally on top of the stem?

It sounds like you are tightening the top cap directly onto the steerer tube, and not the stem. Take off the stem top cap and check to see that the top of the stem is proud of the steerer tube by a couple of millimetres or so.

Hope that makes sense!

[Brucey]

there is usually a wedge of some kind, part of the top bearing assy.; this could be stuck, making normal adjustment impossible. So, if it isn't a simple spacer problem, I suggest you look into this instead.