creaky creak

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roadiewill

New Member
Location
Wiltshire
ok, Ive been adjusting my handlebar height lately - fiddling around with spacers. However, when Im out on the road and go over rough tarmac I can hear a creaking/vibrating noise coming from around the spacers, as if they are knocking together?

Ive tightened the bolts as tight as possible, within reason. The only thing Im wondering is 1 of the smaller spacers I have left off because on top of the stem I already have two, and a third one doesnt seem to be relevant, could this cause the rattle???
 

youngoldbloke

The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
Will - if you needed that spacer before you are going to need it now - the steerer tube on the fork won't have got any shorter. I would put the spacer back and tighten it all up again and see if that cures it. (Don't forget to grease the threads on all the bolts too, just in case that was the cause.)
 

Radius

SHREDDER
Location
London
When you take a spacer 'out', you kinda pretty much have to put it back above the stem unless you're going to cut your steerer tube down.
 
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roadiewill

roadiewill

New Member
Location
Wiltshire
yep but its a different stem than the original one, so might be a different thickness if you get me. If I put the missing one on top it just balances on top of the other spacers and doesnt fit around the fork as it were...
 

youngoldbloke

The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
fork11.jpg


Will - you need to arrange stem and spacers so that you have a small drop from the top of the stem, (or the top of the spacers), to the top of the steerer tube - 2-3 mm, this gap allows you to tighten down the steerer cap and compress the assembly before you tighten the stem clamp bolts. If your new stem steerer clamp is higher than the old one the thin spacer may not be needed, but you might have to rearrange your spacers to give you this gap.
 
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roadiewill

roadiewill

New Member
Location
Wiltshire
a ha
rearanging spacers was the correct answer.
Before I had a big one beneath a small one. Ive now put two small ones on top, which left about 2mm for the bigger one to grasp onto

thanks
 
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