This message was prepared by Ritchie Tout following an incident on the Bryan Chapman Memorial 600 k event May 2017. If you're riding one, please check it out. Note there is also a reference to a TREK headset at the end. This was a separate incident.
"Advice re Specialized headshocks
I thought it was worth posting a note about an incident on last weekend’s BCM. A rider discovered that her Specialized Ruby bike with a suspension system within the steerer meant that the steerer was not part of the fork.
The design is that the steerer slots into the fork crown and is held in place with a collar. This collar is very thin and secured with a 4mm allen headed bolt. All of this is hidden by a plastic cover with the allen bolt being accessed through the side of this.
It looks like it vibrated loose on the ride up to King’s but when she got there the bars no longer turned the fork.
I have contacted Specialized but have not had a reply from them yet. However, it is worth being aware of this problem as it is a system which is unique to Specialized and it is not obvious how it works – at least it wasn’t to us to start off with as nobody considered the possibility that the steerer column was not part of the fork.
I wonder whether AUK should keep a repository of incidents of this kind? Had this rider crashed, I suspect anyone would have thought that the crash was what caused the loose steerer.
We also had a catastrophic failure of a Trek headset bearing. The headset arrangement looked very flimsy in view of the forces transmitted through the headset bearings but it just splintered into several bits and left the bike unrideable."
If you have one of these - do check it. It may be a one - off or possibly more widespread, so collecting data is handy...
