Took 3 weeks to hunt down one click in a 1998 Rockhopper headset, and it was the crown race the whole time

Susan Baker · 2026-10-16T15:45:04.403291+00:00

A guy brought his 1998 Rockhopper into the shop on North Main three weeks ago complaining about a click he felt through the bars on rough pavement. I repacked the headset twice, swapped the bearings, even tried a different stem, and the noise stayed. Turned out the crown race had a hairline crack that only showed up under a magnifier, and a $9 replacement from the parts bin in back made it vanish. Has anyone else chased a phantom click for that long only to find it was staring you in the face the entire time?

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Took 3 weeks to hunt down one click in a 1998 Rockhopper headset, and it was the crown race the whole time | Bicycle Mechanics - Thought Shares