Noisy steering head

[Athame57]

Sometimes especially when I first start out I'm getting a noise like a rusty derelict crane turning slowly in the wind,  I've looked all over to no avail, anyone know a usual suspect I can go back and check?

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

My first suspicions would fall on the steering shaft area - have you recently fitted replacements - if so could they be a tad on the tight side or is there a shimming issue ?

There seems to be a very poor bottom seal design that fails to keep out water.

I might have misunderstood the crane turning!

[taysidedragon]

Sometimes especially when I first start out I'm getting a noise like a rusty derelict crane turning slowly in the wind,  I've looked all over to no avail, anyone know a usual suspect I can go back and check?

Do you mean the noise is from your creaky bones or from the bike? 

[Athame57]

Do you mean the noise is from your creaky bones or from the bike? 

Maybe it is me. I've been very inactive for months due to illness, and maybe some WD40 would do me good as well. I don't hear these noises at other times though so I doubt it! 

[Oddjob]

I drilled and tapped my headstock, fitted a grease nipple and it's now completely full of grease. One thing about steering races etc is that you cannot easily regrease them unless of course you do what I did. If you've got tapers fitted it could be the bottom race isn't shimmed out enough, check the bottom of the frame for rubbing marks. Or it could be a lack of grease or the grease has started to dry out in the very warm weather we've had recently.

[K2-K6]

You could do a "std headache setting check" sir 

Put you left index finger underneatth the top yoke next to the bearing, entry point about 7 o'clock with finger tip going round to 1 o'clock, hold front brake with right hand and rock bike (both wheel on ground) back and forth.

Any slack and you'll feel immediately the headstock moving as you rock it with vehicle weight on it.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Reads like the Prostate finger of fudge test.

[K2-K6]

 

[TrickyMicky]

I cannot fathom out how the headstock bearings would be making a noise when riding. Surely the handlebars are not moved to any great extent, and if they were knackered enough to make a noise then surely you would feel it through the poor handling. If it only occurs when starting out, I would be looking at the rear chain and wheel bearings. Try and enlist the help of a friend and give you a push along the road with a dead engine. I'm in the middle of cobbling together a CL160, and being a tight git I refitted the original drain pipes from the float bowls. They were fairly rigid after 55 years but I got them into position.  Refitted the rear wheel, chain, chain guard, and spun the rear wheel by hand. The noise was awful, you, you've guessed, it was the end of one of the drain pipes making love to the chain! Think outside the box and look everywhere.

[Lobo]

Just a thought - you didn’t apply the book 60+ ft lbs of torque to the Steering Head Top during any rebuild did you? (That torque is for the uppermost / chromed nut). The steering head Top threaded piece is almost finger-torque tight, and is the hidden ‘nut’ immediately on top of the bearings.

Regardless, a strip down is warranted?

[Athame57]

I found the energy to overhaul my squeaking front brake   ( I was really ill a long time post op) and in went the new fluid, and the copper grease plus a noticeable amount of rust, and the pad to disc clearance adjusted.....but what did vanish also is the 'noisy steering head, that can't have been by magic so maybe some brake noise I've never had before was traveling up through the fork stanchions? 

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

That reads like good news - strangely enough my 400 front brake has started  squealing like mad. I have not filed the pad leading edges so had put it down to bedding in & needing adjustment.

[Athame57]

So it helps to round off the edges of the brake padding?

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

So it helps to round off the edges of the brake padding?

A lot of modern cars have heavilly bevelled edges to the leading edges of the brake pads.

Simon (SPR) suggested the idea to me as I had long forgotten the trick. Just using some abrasive paper on a rubbing down block at a slight angle on the leading edge of the brake pad.