Headset Movement on Road Bike

[chr15b]

I've been out cleaning and greasing my seat post and pedal threads hoping they'll remove a creak before a 30 miler tomorrow evening and thought I'd look at another minor issue I have - the front headset has slight movement in it. If I hold the front brake and rock the bike it has a little play that my previous road bikes and mountain bike don't have.

Following advice found here, I loosened the stem bolts at each side and gave the top cap bolt a quarter turn clockwise (It was already pretty tight) but that didn't improve things. I then tightened it a good bit tighter and notice the play is still there. I since loosened things back off and tightened it back to square one.

I thought by tightening it too much, it would stop the play but also make the steering too stiff but this wasn't the case.

Is there anything else I could try?

 

[cyberknight]

have you changed the stem from the original ? some brands dont have the same height where they fit over the fork and you need to put another spacer in so you have enough gap to pre tighten it

 

[Sharky]

What you did was correct.
Check the gap as described above.

Next - do you have a star nut or compression plug? Either could be slipping up when you tighten the top bolt instead of compressing the head bearings. If it's a compression plug, you might need to take it out, make it a tighter fit and try again. There are plenty of vids out there showing you how.

Good luck