1.5" problem?

[muckett]

ok,
i'm on my second 1.5" headtube bike. Had one last year, rode it for about 6 months. The one recurring problem i had was the steer tube kept coming loose and the front end would creak and/or make cracking noises when i would brake hard on the front or do stoppies.

Turns out, the star nut kept sliding back up the steertube. Finially i tightned the stem bolts so much that it ovalized the steertube a lil. ...still never fixed the problem.

New bike, same style, different stem & headset then before: ridden it for about 2 months now, and i'm starting to get the creaking/cracking noise all over again.
anyone else out there w/1.5 have any similar problems?
any suggestions?

[IFO]

so your having a headset problem or a fork problem ???

what fork u using by the way ???

[muckett]

well, i guess since i've had the same problem w/two different headsets, it's not that.
i thought it might of been the XC style stem on the first bike, so i put a FSA DH stem on this bike.
i was wondering if it might be the design of the 1.5 and/or the starnut. or if my two problems were just isolated cases.

the first fork was a sherman breakout 6"
and this one is a sherman breakout + 7"

[Keefer]

7" SC :eek:

Off topic, but is it a nice fork? REVIEW!

[Tarpon]

If you think its your star nut you could use a headlock type setup instead. Woodman makes one for 1.5 in two style, the capsule and the extreme. The extreme is similar to the Azonic but much nicer.

Another possibility is that the crown race is not seated right. Is it a factory install or did a local shop do it? There is not much in the way of tools for 1.5 yet so it could have been a ghetto install.

[miufahkiu]

Originally posted by muckett
The one recurring problem i had was the steer tube kept coming loose and the front end would creak and/or make cracking noises when i would brake hard on the front or do stoppies.

Turns out, the star nut kept sliding back up the steertube.

I have the exact problem, with the cracking noises. My fork is bascially new as well, although not 1.5". I never considered the star nut being the problem in my case, but it very well could be it. I guess first and foremost, get a new star nut; the original might not have been installed correctly. That's easily the cheapest solution, so try that first. If that doesn't work, maybe try one of the HeadLock like devices.

[aabela]

maybew u ovalized your head tube, thats what the description of the noise sounds like

[Nelson]

Sounds like a fork problem, 1.5 or 1.125 doesnt sound like the problem...

My 1.5 is fine.