My steerer on my gravel bike does have a slight ring. I did run the original bearings a little too long and think this was how it developed. Bike is 5 years old, I noticed this about 2 years ago. I now regularly (at least twice a year, I don’t do a lot of gravel, it mainly gets used on the turbo/winter bike with road wheels from October to March in the Edinburgh, UK), and I haven’t noticed it getting any worse. It’s not that bad, and is slightly more pronounced on one side than the other. Should I be concerned?
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Are you able to get a read on how deep it is? Particularly on the worse side?
What’s best way, measure with vernier calipers? It’s not very deep at all I’d say, but obviously noticeable
Yup. Measure the steerer away from the ring, then measure the ring - subtract the ring measurement from the steerer measurement and divide by 2. That’ll give you the depth of the groove on one side of the fork
So it’s a difference of 0.1mm between the steerer and the ring part of the steerer. So 0.05mm. Steerer measures about 28.6 (can get a 28.7 measurement at some points) and about 28.5mm when measure the ring (could get 28.6mm at somepoints) but was mostly 28.6 vs 28.5mm.
I’m inclined to think at that depth you’re probably ok, but remember it’s called the Ring of Death for a reason! Keep an eye on it. Regularly. Measure it every time. If the play in your headset doesn’t return there’s a good chance you caught it in time, but the wear can (and does) continue every time the headset loosens - even slightly.
Let us know how you go…
Hey Rich. Thanks for the reply, yeah there hasn’t been any play since I noticed and sorted a couple years ago and I’ve been keeping an eye ever since, ensuring bearings are taken out and checked as well. I haven’t noticed any change in the steerer since originally noticing so like you said, hopefully caught in time.
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