Slop in Eclipse steering head?

[lectrik al]

Got first 100 mi. on the bike and notice some play in the head/fork tube.

Pulled the bar's/thinstem yoke, slid the plastic cover up off steering tube and to my suprise nothing there. I was expecting to tighten up a crown nut or something.

Are the forks/steering tube only held in place with a plastic cap and the tightness of the thinstem yoke?

Me newbee, so how do I get the wobble/slop out, which is noticeable if you hold the front brake and gently rock the bike back and forth.

[AZguy]

Most MTB setups these days the tension is held by the handlebar riser

[ncmired]

The stem is the tension or slop decider. By chance, in what order did you tighten the three bolts? You should leave the stem clamping bolts loose, tighten up the long top cap drawing bolt that goes into the steering tube and into a star nut till there's no play and little turning drag (a compromise), then tighten the clamping bolts. Double check and repeat.

If after riding it loosens again, the star nut might be slipping up or there's just not enough grip by the stem on the steering tube and you'll need to reinvestigate using the extender.

The MTB style threadless fork is not like bikes of old.

[lectrik al]

thanks ncmird, for confirming what I thought. while thinking about it, I did exactly what you recommend about the cap and star nut first, and tried that. I maybe got it a bit tighter, but now I know that's proper procedure, and I am going to try again.

I'm thinking the bottom "shoulder" of the Thinstem at the contact area of the top neco ring is smaller than the original neco stem, which is flat and makes a wider contact area with the top "bushing/ring"? Possibly there's less tension applied with less contact area. If I can't get it tight, I will install the original stem and see how that feels.

BUMMER the Thinstem might not be the answer as currently employed. but it looks good, and let's bars come off in 3 seconds.

I can't help thinking that the MTB threadless fork system seems lacking, and I can't believe they hold together with the video's I've seen of young guys slamming them around on some seriously rugged terrain.

[Retrorockit]

Once you tighten the stem it's pretty much part of the fork.The older quill type stem was horrible. The two pieces inside the fork could move around and if they got wet the aluminum would sell up inside the fork and never come out again. if you want an upgrade there are sealed cartridge bearing headsets. But my 18 year old Aheadset was just fine when I upgraded mine. But I can now pull the fork w/o chasing loose ball bearings all over the place.

[lectrik al]

I know it's done right cause I did it twice! Actually 4 times, but I have it about as snug as it will get. Less noticeable now, and I might have been a bit PICKY in the first place. There was never any up and down play just when rocking back and forth with the brake on I could feel the top of stem and cap moving slightly on the frame. Maybe the top bearing has looser tolerances.

Anyway, I learned somethin new, bike feels better and I feel better about the bike not missin parts!

Antique Iron meets space age aluminum on my ride this morning

[ncmired]

Gotta love the squirrelly ride on those grate bridges, when wet. Even more fun frozen.

And glad you're enjoying your ride.

[lectrik al]

I think I've found a fix for the sloppy ThinStem attachment with the too short steering tube of the Eclipse forks. REAL fix is new forks with longer tube and air, but....$, - I am looking tho
Like ability to lift handlebars free from frame instantly, but sick of re tightening the damn thing, it would slide some and work loose

I installed this compression plug ( drove old star nut down out of the way) and tightened everything up in proper order cinching down top cap first. It felt good and solid but after banging around in fields for a bit it loosened up again. Took everything apart and started over - seems like on right path.

This time I took some pics, but before assembly I took 60 grit and a metal pick and roughed up the outside of the steering tube and the inside of the thinstem yoke. same with the inside of the tube so the expander would have a fresh rough surface to mate with. I kept the expander plug up out of the tube about 1/4" to help give something for the thinstem to grab onto.

Torqued everything down and after 2 -10 mi rides and beatin it some in rough dry farm fields, it's as tight as the hinges on the gates outa hell!

China calls it a "compression plug, star nut adjuster expansion bolt" for 28.6mm fork steerer headset top cap carbon. several different mfg available thru ali-exp with low cost and 3 wk wait.