All four of the OCLVs I've bought in the last two years have had badly misaligned head tube faces
and bb threads and faces. I know, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I feel
really foolish for having bought four Treks!
The first two were not the end of the world, because although I was shocked such expensive USA
frames needed prep (Cannondales don't!), they used standard headsets and I could fix them with a
standard reamer/facer tool. And I used Ultegra BBs, so the misaligned BB threads and faces didn't
have a very big effect.
But the third and fourth, both 5900s, had that awful Trek lower headset bearing and Dura-Ace BBs.
One frame was so bad I replaced it. The bb threads on that were so badly misaligned the Campy bb
facing guide wouldn't thread fully in, even after chasing the threads with the Campy thread chaser!
It took three months before I finally gave up waiting for a replacement 5900 and asked for a 5500.
The other still has a nasty tight headset and Dura-Ace BB, and I've personally had the lower head
bearing out twice (yes, it took some fritzing around with home-made tools). The first time, I
carefully chipped out the gobs of green locktite from the cup. No change. The second time I noticed
a little of the stiffness was simply in the tight seal of that nasty Trek bearing. It was stiff even
without being installed! And the misalignment made it even stiffer.
I'm planning to convert that lower cup. Now where's my dremel...?
John Burke, are you listening? Why can't you properly face and chase head tubes and properly face
and thread bbs? How in the world can the left and right side threads not be coaxial? Bad tooling?
Bad manufacturing? Where are the manufacturing manager and engineering manager? Asleep? Where are
your reps, don't they tell you about this stuff and the bad will it gives Treks in the marketplace?
I bet Lance won't have that Trek headset in his next 5900...
Don't you have assembly problems putting in the bottom bracket bearings? How much line stoppage is
caused by having to rework bottom brackets with stuck cups in them? When a bad batch comes through,
is the repair guy hustling to hand-chase these bad bbs? Or do you have a permanently installed
machine to do it it's so frequent? Where is Trek's feedback system that should tell you this is a
big problem? Where's the assembly supervisor, asleep? Why doesn't he complain to the manufacturing
engineer? Don't the manufacturing engineers in charge of BB threading ever watch assembly to notice
this problem? Can't you buy threading machinery in China? It would certainly do a better job than
whatever crooked, misaligned or bent system put those awful threads in my bbs.
Why don't you fix this problem John? It's been 100% in the four I've bought. That stinks!
"Mike Jacoubowsky" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]>...
> Diane: It's not all that difficult to take care of. My own 5900 had the same issue (which I lived
> with for quite some time, until I finally got around to it last month). It's not that big a deal,
> in most cases. All you need to do is remove the fork, remove the lower bearing from the fork,
> reinstall the bearing and then reinstall the fork (with bearing attached). In 90% of the cases,
> that takes care of it. It doesn't seem to be a misaligned cup, but rather an issue with how the
> lower bearing seats in it.
>
> Unfortunately, it's not something that can be done outside of a shop, as it's often *very*
> difficult to remove the bearing from the fork, and reinstalling it requires both slide hammers and
> a bit of improvisation (due to the cone-shaped bottom section of the fork).
>
> It is *not* necessary to replace the lower cup, at least not for the ones I've dealt with (and we
> sell a whole lot of 5900s, so we have quite a bit of experience with them). Depending upon how
> carefully you can remove the lower bearing, it's a very good idea to have a replacement on hand.
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
>
>
> "dianne_1234" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
> > In my experience, it's the bad Trek lower bearing giving the whole headset a bad reputation. The
> > lower cup is Trek-specific, and bonded
> > in. 66% of the ones I've assembled have been significantly out of alignment. (This is also true
> > of the other OCLV models, but those can usually be corrected with standard reaming and
> > facing tools).
> >
> > And on the 33% where the cup is apparently aligned, the bearing is often bonded in crooked.
> >
> > And on the few where the bearing is pretty straight, the seal on that bearing is simply a
> > high-drag seal.
> >
> > In other words, as far as I know, you're stuck.
> >
> > Trek knows about this problem, so one remote possibility might be to ask Trek to un-bond that
> > cup and bond in a normal one. You won't be able to use the existing fork, but at least the
> > headset won't bind.
> >
> > A very extreme possibility is that a competent bike shop could saw off the "cup" part, then ream
> > and face the "bonded in" part. This might work to convert the frame for a normal lower head set.
> > Measure carefully first!
> >
> >
[email protected] (oldman) wrote in message
> news:<
[email protected]>...
> > > Any recommendation for replacement headset for MY2000 Trek OCLV 5700? My bike comes with badly
> > > engineered Cane Creek headset. Having problem after 2 months with the bike. I am sick and
> > > tired of adjusting the
> knocking
> > > headset or a self-tightening headset every other month. BTW, I think the headset on the 5700
> > > is non-standard if I remember correctly, 11/8 top
> and
> > > 11/4 bottom. Does Chris King make headset in this odd combination?
> > >
> > > My mountain bike headset (another Cane Creek)siezed 3 weeks after I bought it, after one very
> > > wet ride.Is it just me or is it really Cane ****? I changed to a Chris King on my MTB and it's
> > > been a 2 years without a single problem, including many very wet rides.
> > >
> > > cheers! king young Lee