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  • Oh dear.

    I have worked out why there's a big gap between the stem and the front of the headset spacers. Sorry if this is boring for you lot still following, but here are the trials and tribulations of building up a project like this from a collection of parts direct from China.

    So, in the dim and distant past (up thread) I posted a lot of pics of the different bits of headset spacer, stem, etc, and you guys helped me figure out the order and how to sort out the two little prongs on the top of the top headset cap.

    Maybe I can be forgiven for sorting all that out and testing it "dry" - I put it all onto the bike and nipped up the bolts, it all looked good, but... there was a problem, which I have now discovered. See, the steerer is 28.6mm, and the inside of the stem is 31.8mm, so there is a spacer. I knew that. It was pretty obvious. However, I never thought to check the inside of the headset spacers/top cap assembly. It turns out this is NOT a good fit on the steerer; it is ALSO 31.8mm inside dia. Without the cables/hoses installed this wasn't an issue, but once you put the cables and hoses through the front, it tips the headset spacers forward. In addition, the underside of the stem isn't square (yep...) and the result is the gap shown above.

    The solution is (1) buy a longer 28.6-31.8mm sleeve (easy) and then (2) find a way to close up the gap, which also needs to incorporate the two little prongs (because these no longer engage). B0ll0cks.

    I am now getting a bit frustrated. However, I've ordered the sleeve from ebay, it will come in a week or so. The sleeve will (in my mind's eye) go through the stem AND the whole spacer stack and hold them all nicely concentric. I'll trim the bottom of the spacer so its exactly the right size for my stack. And then, I will make a carbon wedge-shaped spacer, painstakingly, by hand, to fill the gap. And I'll have to drill/dowel the whole lot to stop the spacers and stem turning relative to each other. Any of you who are still following this deserve some sort of medal. Here's some pics...

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