Steering head bearings

TStanb

TStanb

Full member
A lot of play in the steering head, so I loosened the clamp Allen bolt And tried to tighten the thin castellated nut below the top yoke, like the book says.
It won?t budge.
Have I reached the upper limit of the adjustment and there is no more, or is it just tight? Does the 28mm chromed centre Bolt have any influence in this matter?
 
IAG said:
I'd recommend adjustment w/front end unloaded, just a thought.
Click to expand...

Sorry. w/front end unloaded? What does this mean? The front wheel is removed and the yokes/forks are free to move.
 
Bike supported with the front wheel off the ground. You have to loosen the chromed top nut, it will be acting as a lock nut onto the castellated adjuster nut through the upper triple clamp. You have to allow for the added pressure from the top nut onto the adjuster, if it is perfect with the top nut loose, it will be too tight with it tightened down.
The front end must be off the ground to adjust your headset bearings, so you can feel resistance or notchiness (meaning that they need to be replaced).
 
Tippie said:
Bike supported with the front wheel off the ground. You have to loosen the chromed top nut, it will be acting as a lock nut onto the castellated adjuster nut through the upper triple clamp. You have to allow for the added pressure from the top nut onto the adjuster, if it is perfect with the top nut loose, it will be too tight with it tightened down.
The front end must be off the ground to adjust your headset bearings, so you can feel resistance or notchiness (meaning that they need to be replaced).
Click to expand...

Got it!. I'll have a look now... although the lockdown cider homebrew has just kicked in...:)
 
Got it!. I'll have a look now... although the lockdown cider homebrew has just kicked in.
Wait until tamorra then, it is fiddly and you need a clear head.
 
All sorted.
Thanks
But for the life of me, why is there no mention of the influence of the chromed 28mm in the Green book? As soon as this was loosened off, it was a piece of cake
 
There has been a couple of posts about there being no lock nut happening and the system self-tightening over time with bad consequences. It's hard to write a tech manual and cover all the nuances of what can and might happen. It's hard enough asking a concise question and answer here and not miss something.
 
" It's hard enough asking a concise question and answer here and not miss something...and not get a barrage of sarcastic answers  :-\
The fun of the forum  :D
 
Some systems use two castellated nuts that lock together and both sit under the top triple clamp and the top nut just secures the clamp - you basically set them up with the top clamp off. With that the bearings are always in adjustment. I prefer the Lav system, but you have to do it carefully and always check for play/overtightness AFTER tightening the top chrome nut.
 
TStanb said:
All sorted.
Thanks
But for the life of me, why is there no mention of the influence of the chromed 28mm in the Green book? As soon as this was loosened off, it was a piece of cake
Click to expand...

Well, if you think about it for a while, it's quite obvious. :D

Basically, all steering set-ups of the time are very similar... all used some sort of locking mechanism to secure adjustment, most still do.

piet
 
TStanb said:
All sorted.
Thanks
But for the life of me, why is there no mention of the influence of the chromed 28mm in the Green book? As soon as this was loosened off, it was a piece of cake
Click to expand...

Because it isn't chromed.

Paul
 
Ah, it appears we are getting somewhere...not all 180 Series 1s are the same.
I did as Clem said and attached the wheel but kept it off ground, loosened everything and now I have a lovely steering action with no play.

Now...I'm gonna get those dual Voxbell horns to work properly. Don't worry, I've seen there is a lot of forum history here, so I'll try not to cause too much bother
 
Had em fixed, and fixed.. never worked well though.then never better than with a relay.  Bleat about there being an underlying problem all you like, now they are  now truly loud, and i just dont care😁😁😁
 
What scares me is that the adjusting nut Laverda used in the 70s was the same size (shaft diameter, threads etc) as a BICYCLE of the time, 1 inch diameter steerer tube. True the tensioning nut was a little thicker but you still adjusted it with the same 32 mm spanner as you used for your Peugeot Tourer (bicycle).
Bicycles have now gone with WAY more sphisticated fork supports, everything's much heavier duty (although it's all much lighter with titanium and carbon fibre) and it all works so much better. I just put a carbon fork and one-piece carbon fibre moulded handlebars and stem and forks on my 1984 Cannondale killer criterium bike, and I just can't believe the difference in the ride! Almost better than my electric bike! Maybe 40 year newer technology has something to be said for it after all!

Ken
 
Scared of the Ceriani headset bearing system and tensioning because it is old fashioned technology? Can't say I have had the slightest problem with it on any bike ever. I don't know of any motorcycle with conventional front end today that has other than an adjuster and a locknut of the same principle.
 
The biggest issue I had was finding a thin enough 32mm openender to hold the lower nut on my Cer frontend, you need to hold the lower nut so it doesn't move when the upper nut is tightened. Ever holding it doesn't stop it becoming to tight when tightening the upper nut. I have said it before, it's more art than science. Takes a few goes to get it close to perfect. I ground down an old spanner first and then I heard on here about pushbike spanners and bought one that works great. BTW it's a 32mm hex on Cer and a Castellated nut, like rear shock adjusters on Maz forks.
 
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