it's impossible to distinguish bike rattle from camera rattle in that vid.

Um, why did you mess with the steerer tube? The crown race is supposed to press on tight - did you not use the appropriate tool for the job?

 

I specified the time at which you hear the click sounds only in my previous post.
I read that several people have done it this way, with success.
And no, I did not use the proper tool- I used a screwdriver to carefully hit it into place as I saw demonstrated in this video:

 

If you had to make dent in the steer tube to get the head set to fit ,something is wrong. I would hope you didn't damage the frame to the point of compromising it. Clinking sounds are often a loose stem/ headset Turn the front wheel sideways ,hold the front brake ,rock the bike back and forth with your other hand on the the bottom race ,if you can feel any movement there something is loose.

 

I tried this, and there is no movement there.
Any other ideas?
Thank you for your help so far.

 

Did you make any other changes to the bike while you were replacing your fork? For example, did you for some reason remove your rear tire and didn't tighten the rear QR enough? Maybe forgot to re attach front brake cable to fork? Like the other poster said, if you clamp your front brake and rock the bike back and forth, and you have installed your fork properly, you should hear no clicking and have no movement. Turning the wheel to the side and doing this gets the brake out of the picture.

Sometimes I also find a wall and press the bike against it to diagnose headset issues.

Also - off topic, but your handlebars seem very narrow to me - have you considered wider bars?

 

.
I used the same headset and installed it correctly, only the crown race was too wide for the new fork. Thus I made 'dents' in the steerer tube so that the crown race would sit flush.

I can't for the life of me picture what this entails - could you give a little more detail or some pics?

If the race was too wide to begin with, why would you need to make more room for it by modifying the steerer tube? Are you sure you got the right size fork?

 

@SDMTB'er: I did not make any other (unecessary) changes, and I installed everything exactly as it was before- no new hanging cables or loose parts. I will try the bike against wall method.
I have noticed when looking at other videos that the handlebar is narrower- does this result in less control? It has never bugged me though!

@slapheadmofo: The fork is the right size, same 1 1/8 inch as previous one, just slightly shorter steerer tube length (so I removed two spacers).

I cannot find where I read the 'solution' I used online.
Basically, with the sharp end of a screwdriver, I made ******/ cuts in the steerer tube by lightly hammering the screwdriver against the steerer tube. By doing so, metal would 'set out', making the crown race sit flush. Is this somewhat clear?

 

Hello,

I used the same headset and installed it correctly, only the crown race was too wide for the new fork. Thus I made 'dents' in the steerer tube so that the crown race would sit flush.

I can't even fathom what this means. Are you sure you're using the right terms for the parts involved here?
The steerer tube and the crown race should naturally sit 'flush' (your term) to each other because they are both round and are the same diameter...the race (metal ring) fits around the tube, and is held in place by virtue of the very bottom of the steerer tube being slightly larger in diameter than the rest of the tube above it. That metal ring (the crown race) should incidentally be contacting the top of the fork, called the 'crown', where the legs are attached because that's how the fork is held securely to the headset cups (the larger pieces pressed into the headtube of the bike). there should be a ring of bearings and grease to make it all spin smoothly.
Literally everything in this assembly is round, and stacks on top of each other in successive rings -> steerer tube-crown race-bearing cage-lower cup - innermost to outermost.
there should never be any denting necessary.

The only thing I can even begin to imagine you mean is that you hammered slots into the actual crown of your fork for removal of the crown race.
That's extremely ill-advised, but not causing the knocking, assuming you got the rest (described above) all together correctly.

I also can't get my head around what you mean by too wide for the new fork...my bike has a 1.5" headset and the crown race hangs way over the crown of the fork both to the front and back. It's designed to be this way the bearing/cup diameter is larger than the front-to-back distance of the fork crown.

Please take some pictures so this is better understood.

 

May this is what the OP means?-


I've used the divot method on tons of old beaters when the crown race was too big (ID) to seat tightly on the steer tube. Basically, by peppering the bottom portion of the steer tube (where the crown race seats) with a sharp punch you create miniature volcanos in the metal, thus allowing a tight fit.

Kind of hack but it works.

 

May this is what the OP means?-

I've used the divot method on tons of old beaters when the crown race was too big (ID) to seat tightly on the steer tube. Basically, by peppering the bottom portion of the steer tube (where the crown race seats) with a sharp punch you create miniature volcanos in the metal, thus allowing a tight fit.

Kind of hack but it works.

Yes, thank you! This is exactly what I mean. Sorry about not having explained it clearly!
So could using this method somehow be causing the clicking sounds assuming all other headset parts, as explained by ARandomBiker, are correctly in place? Maybe the crown race has loosened since I did the 'hack'..

 

I would not be surprised if that is making noise

 

recently had a creaking seat post that sounded like it was coming from the headset.

 

I had a clicking once from headset area..... Turned out to be a headset spacer that wasnt machined properly and didnt sit flush in the stack.....

 

Why not just get a new crown race, they are cheap and see if that resolves the noise?

JB Weld alluded to ina post above, and I leanred personally through a new bike, you can get a split ring crown race that doesn't require a tool to install.

Also, those are some really narrow bars, it was uncomfortable watching, it reminded me of a lot of twitchy steering on old bikes.

 

Yes, I am most likely going to buy a replacement cheap headset of the same brand (but different model) that has an identical looking crown race. I hope that fixes it, and not that the sound is coming from other parts as mentioned above. I am sure it is not the seatpost as it happens also when I am standing up and accelerating quickly.

The bar is 580mm wide, which is quite common for XC/ the riding I do (I thought).

 

correct me if I'm wrong, but i thought a crown race had to match the brand it went with.
edit> i see u ment to go with the same brand.

 

Crazy, I installed a different fork on my bike and I had a clicking noise when turning the wheel. Usually clicked when I went 45 degrees to left and then 45 degrees to the right. I was using same headset I used on my old fork, and it gave me no issues with the old fork.

I couldn't find the problem, unloosened everything a bunch of times trying to find the problem.

I had the same exact cane creek 40 headset laying around, it was used a lot more but in good condition, I swapped just the top bearing and top dust cap and noise is completely gone.

No idea why replacing those parts fixed the problem. I assume it was probably the dust cap. I wonder if it was because I didn't regrease it, but it looked like it had plenty of grease on it.

 

What is the fork brand and model ?

Is the fork new or secondhand ?

 

Both forks were bought new, both dual crown forks. I was switching one used dual crown fork to another dual crown fork I had used in the past.

But it wasn't the forks that was causing the problem. I believe it was the dust cap.