[FatTireFred]

So I've got King threadless headsets on a number of my bikes and on 2 of 'em I've hit potholes pretty squarely on and both have made a loud bang noise with the hits... doesn't appear or feel like anything broke on either, nothing loose, no rattles, both ride fine (one several months later)... the bikes are a cxer in the dirt and the other was a roadie on the road, both steel with steel steerers.

Anyone experience anything like that?

 

[vespajg]

Just a guess - but I doubt the HS made the noise, irrespective of the brand. Likely a sound from something else (maybe just the impact traveling up the fork) that traveled along the frame/fork and sounded like it was coming from the HS area. Noise usually (always?) = movement and HS don't move in many ways that make a loud banging noise unless it is very badly adjusted.

Of course, I could be completely wrong.

 

[hfc]

I used to have that pretty frequently on a bike with a profile fork. I always figured it was a) brifter levers smacking under the impact or b) some kind of fork flex. I would just take a close look at the fork legs and crown and if everyhting looks OK, don't worry.

 

[Fixed]

tight?

I have had that happen when the headset was not as tight as it could have been. Even the smallest gap, unnoticeable when just riding, seems to create a loud cracking sound when hitting something abrupt. Try tightening down a bit and see what happens.

 

[rjsd]

It could be your bar slipping in the stem. Mine had moved after hitting a bump, the movement was slight & unnoticeable but the bang was loud at first I thought it was the fork or wheel coming apart. I marked the position of the bar when I initially installed it. After inspecting the fork & wheel I notice the Bar-stem mark was not aligned. Re-torqued the stem & all is quite.