Rise 25 creaky headset

b33k34

b33k34

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One of our Rises arrived (both were supposed to be early July when ordered. 1 arrived mid August, still no firm date for the XL. Not sure what’s going on with Orbea)

Swapped out the brakes and dropper and cut down the steerer. I now have a “cracking” sound from the headtube on fork compression. It’s not the fork (compress it vertically and it’s silent) so it’s got to be the headset somewhere. If you push down on the front you get a sharp “crack” sound once per compression - I’m guessing something isn’t seated right.

Any suggestions?
 
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b33k34 said:
One of our Rises arrived (both were supposed to be early July when ordered. 1 arrived mid August, still no firm date for the XL. Not sure what’s going on with Orbea)

Swapped out the brakes and dropper and cut down the steerer. I now have a “cracking” sound from the headtube on fork compression. It’s not the fork (compress it vertically and it’s silent) so it’s got to be the headset somewhere. If you push down on the front you get a sharp “crack” sound once per compression - I’m guessing something isn’t seated right.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Hi
My Brother had a similar issue with his 2024 Rise. He put it down to the hidden cable headset design. I know he has tried all kinds of solutions. He said that a bit of grease on the spacers helps temporarily but it comes back after a while. Don't think he ever completely solved the issue (and he knows his way around bikes). Pretty sure he discussed it with Orbea too. I have an earlier 2022 model with the normal headset which is fine. 🤞
 
b33k34 said:
Swapped out the brakes and dropper and cut down the steerer. I now have a “cracking” sound from the headtube
Click to expand...

Yup, that's a thing on all bikes and all headsets. When you assemble everything, slop it up with grease. And when I say "slop it up," I'm not exaggerating. Typically heavy grease isn't suitable for bikes, but the headset is the exception. Any general purpose NLGI 2 grease that you get at the auto parts store will be fine. Be generous with it.

Some headsets are more prone to creaking than others. I'm talking about the cheap ones that often come on bikes from the factory. If the manufacturer has "Creak" in its name, you can believe them. Chris King has the best design and precision manufacturing, but don't just go out and buy one until you've adequately greased your existing headset.
 
RustyIron said:
Yup, that's a thing on all bikes and all headsets. When you assemble everything, slop it up with grease. And when I say "slop it up," I'm not exaggerating. Typically heavy grease isn't suitable for bikes, but the headset is the exception. Any general purpose NLGI 2 grease that you get at the auto parts store will be fine. Be generous with it.

Some headsets are more prone to creaking than others. I'm talking about the cheap ones that often come on bikes from the factory. If the manufacturer has "Creak" in its name, you can believe them. Chris King has the best design and precision manufacturing, but don't just go out and buy one until you've adequately greased your existing headset.
Click to expand...
I’ve been riding and building bikes for >20 years and I’ve not had this problem before.
 
Interestingly my 24 Wild FS does the exact same thing. I swapped out the dreadful split spacers and stem for a normal stem and spacers and it makes cracking noises. I am fairly sure it’s the routing of the cables internally that is the issue.
 
Chiefworm said:
Interestingly my 24 Wild FS does the exact same thing. I swapped out the dreadful split spacers and stem for a normal stem and spacers and it makes cracking noises. I am fairly sure it’s the routing of the cables internally that is the issue.
Click to expand...
It happens when I push down on the front at rest - none of the cables are moving or changing angle then. Has to be parts of the headset moving against each other I think.
 
b33k34 said:
One of our Rises arrived (both were supposed to be early July when ordered. 1 arrived mid August, still no firm date for the XL. Not sure what’s going on with Orbea)

Swapped out the brakes and dropper and cut down the steerer. I now have a “cracking” sound from the headtube on fork compression. It’s not the fork (compress it vertically and it’s silent) so it’s got to be the headset somewhere. If you push down on the front you get a sharp “crack” sound once per compression - I’m guessing something isn’t seated right.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
I’ve had this same issue to varying degrees on my 22 carbon Rise. Ive realized it’s finicky and you have to get the preload just right to make it go away. Take it apart, clean it all really well, grease liberally, then torque it all up. Try going slightly looser or tighter and see what happens. Good luck.
 
Check the blue paper, but I saw a post elsewhere that gives 10nm for the head set bolt due to a binding head set seal that presumably needs to be compressed or the head set is loose.
Certainly I’ve had issues with my 22 model knocking on the brakes even though the head set bolt “feels” tight in the traditional sense

Seems unless it’s done up to 10 nm it will be loose no matter what. This applies to the oe arcos head set only by all accounts
 
Bob Orbea Rise said:
Check the blue paper, but I saw a post elsewhere that gives 10nm for the head set bolt due to a binding head set seal that presumably needs to be compressed or the head set is loose.
Certainly I’ve had issues with my 22 model knocking on the brakes even though the head set bolt “feels” tight in the traditional sense

Seems unless it’s done up to 10 nm it will be loose no matter what. This applies to the oe arcos head set only by all accounts
Click to expand...
That’s interesting- I’d not checked and just tightened like any other headset (ie “not too tight”.
 
Same here on my 22 carbon rise. Needs plenty of torque on the headset preload otherwise you can feel it all move in the frame which I hate. Takes me a good few attempts to get it spot on. More so than on lots of other bikes I've owned. Never creaks or makes noises though.
 
mikegarf said:
Same here on my 22 carbon rise. Needs plenty of torque on the headset preload otherwise you can feel it all move in the frame which I hate. Takes me a good few attempts to get it spot on. More so than on lots of other bikes I've owned. Never creaks or makes noises though.
Click to expand...
Yeah the bearings don’t seat in very well. I think the carbon frame they drop into has poor tolerance. I think that’s the issue.
 
Not read all the posts, but sometimes the glue [yes glue] deteriorates in the forks[where the fork tubes go into the brace part] , creating similar creaking sound, just watched a youtube on it, need to be pressed out and reglued apparently.
 
Ther no toque value on the head cap for an ACROS AZF-1035 on my Cube. Watched a video on replacing Acros’s ICR, integrated cable housing. They also didn’t mention any. My LBS agreed. Just tight enough without put much drag on the headset. I also just found out, by my LBS at “Fly Ride” San Diego & Orange Counties. If you remove any spacers you most either trim the shock or add a spacer under the headcap so the top of the fork is below the level of the spacer/washer. He actually gave me a couple of different height spaces! I'm had removed a 10mm spacer. Put a 10mm washer under the cap and NO more clunk! Thanks Noah at Fly Rides!!
 
Jay Bird said:
Yeah the bearings don’t seat in very well. I think the carbon frame they drop into has poor tolerance. I think that’s the issue.
Click to expand...
No the bearings themselves are a standard size, the theory here is the rubber seal needs 10nm to compress it before the bearings can not move in the frame cup. Put another way, if the owner just does the head set up by feel like a normal head set without the rubber seal, the seal will allow the bearings to pop out by a small amount, say while braking , which is possibly the noise the op is hearing.

I should add I think I’ve seen the rubber seal in question, on the top race of the stock arcos head set, while changing forks. It’s slotted to key in to the metal spacer under it. It has to sit perfectly in the slots or it will give even more spongy clamping force and there for give. It’s very tricking to get everything to line up and sit right while fitting handle bar stem and spacers etc. I haven’t looked into it any lore than that, other than to notice the headset knocking and having to re tighten numerous times thinking it can’t still be loose. Then I saw the 10nm torque setting as said, it makes more sense if that’s correct
 
Last edited:
Bob Orbea Rise said:
Check the blue paper, but I saw a post elsewhere that gives 10nm for the head set bolt due to a binding head set seal that presumably needs to be compressed or the head set is loose.
Certainly I’ve had issues with my 22 model knocking on the brakes even though the head set bolt “feels” tight in the traditional sense

Seems unless it’s done up to 10 nm it will be loose no matter what. This applies to the oe arcos head set only by all accounts
Click to expand...
Thanks for this - I think it's solved my creaking noise! I took my bike to mechanics at two different shops to check the headset because of a creaking noise, and both said it was good. The Orbea Blue Paper for 2023 M models says 8Nm, so I tightened to that (it was only about 3-4Nm before) and after a quick test ride it seems good!
 
LA_Stu said:
Thanks for this - I think it's solved my creaking noise! I took my bike to mechanics at two different shops to check the headset because of a creaking noise, and both said it was good. The Orbea Blue Paper for 2023 M models says 8Nm, so I tightened to that (it was only about 3-4Nm before) and after a quick test ride it seems good!
Click to expand...
Also, replace the star nut regularly , its a 3 piece item that may appear to be working perfectly, but , the 2 claws can work loose and the shaft bit can also become loose and or flex but still function ,[ i recently bought the tool and some starnuts[few $] and replaced one[for no reason] and the steering felt much more solid, so ????
 
Rise 25 - 8nm (not 10 as up thread) but that seems to have solved it. There was a lot of turning and creaking beyond what I’d considered “headset tight” before it reached the torque setting.

Will be a pain to try to do on the trail.
 
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Sure. quite a bulky addition to the riding kit though.
 
Weighs sod all mate. Honestly. It's a bit big, but I was offering an idea for the problem you described of having instant 8nm torque.
I've got multiple of these for different settings on the boys race bike
 
Chiefworm said:
Interestingly my 24 Wild FS does the exact same thing. I swapped out the dreadful split spacers and stem for a normal stem and spacers and it makes cracking noises. I am fairly sure it’s the routing of the cables internally that is the issue.
Click to expand...

I did also change the horrible split spacers and OC stem for a normal stem and spacers and the creaking got better for a few hours, then it got even worse..

Changing the headset lower bearing and crownrace to a Hope J, using plenty of marine grease and finding the exactly right amount of preload torque finally solved the creaking!

On my friends Orbea Wild the headset bearings fell out way to easy so we used some plumbers teflon tape on the bearings and after that the creaking stopped.
 
similar creaking issues with my 25 Rise LT. It's got standard stem and spacers.. I've sort of resigned myself to put up with it, there is no play I can feel with the bearings and I dont want to overdo the torque as that will kill those bearings quicker then anything! I think its a "feature" of these integrated headsets.. give me the press in seats any day.
 
cookie70 said:
similar creaking issues with my 25 Rise LT. It's got standard stem and spacers.. I've sort of resigned myself to put up with it, there is no play I can feel with the bearings and I dont want to overdo the torque as that will kill those bearings quicker then anything! I think its a "feature" of these integrated headsets.. give me the press in seats any day.
Click to expand...

The standard OC stem with the split spacers and plastic "top spacers" is horrible to get correctly setup!!

My experience is that the stock headset/stem/spacer setup needs to be properly greased and is extremely sensitive to preload torque, 1/20th of a turn to tight or 1/20th of a turn to loose and it will creak!
The only way I could get it almost quiet was to tighten the preload bolt until there was some binding and then back it of just a tiny bit so that the preload was just 1/20th of a turn from beeing to tight.

The internal routing of the cables causes some resistance when turning the handlebars which can make it feel like there is still a bit of binding, for me this was most noticeable when turning the handlebars in one direction but not so much when turning them in the other direction which makes adjustments even more annoying!
 
I have a 2023 Rise H10. If im understanding correctly, I should preload the headset by tightening the top cap bolt to 8NM, then tighten the stem bolts to 6NM. It sure seems tight, when turning the bars side to side. I don’t have internal routing. I found a torque setting in the manual that says 6NM. Im so confused!

IMG_0991.png
 
jcismo1 said:
I have a 2023 Rise H10. If im understanding correctly, I should preload the headset by tightening the top cap bolt to 8NM, then tighten the stem bolts to 6NM. It sure seems tight, when turning the bars side to side. I don’t have internal routing. I found a torque setting in the manual that says 6NM. Im so confused!

View attachment 168465
Click to expand...

6nm is way to tight for the top cap!
Just tighten the top cap until there is no play, or tighten it until there is some resistance when you turn the bars and back it of so the resistance goes away.
 
jcismo1 said:
I have a 2023 Rise H10. If im understanding correctly, I should preload the headset by tightening the top cap bolt to 8NM, then tighten the stem bolts to 6NM. It sure seems tight, when turning the bars side to side. I don’t have internal routing. I found a torque setting in the manual that says 6NM. Im so confused!

View attachment 168465
Click to expand...
The 8Nm spec for the top cap is for the M model bikes (carbon frame, and different headset). However, now that I've had more time with this, experimented, and replaced my lower bearing, I agree with the comment from @Silent_Jay that even 6Nm is too much (and I have an M bike where the spec is 8Nm).
 
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