A customer dropped off a Trek Emonda for me to work on.
↑They wanted me to lower the stem position on this.
According to Trek's concept store
(which is a dedicated Trek shop, not just a retailer),
they said it was impossible to go any lower,
and they also said they couldn't replace the top cap.
That's complete nonsense. What an idiot.
You really shouldn't be touching road bikes anymore.
The FSA top cap is a universal component, so as long as the internal diameter matches,
you can get lower ones made from aluminum or carbon fiber.
This time I went with aluminum (because it's cheaper).
The concept store claimed that the pink anodized aluminum spacer
in the first photo absolutely had to be installed under the stem,
but it doesn't seem to come standard on the complete bike anyway,
and there's nothing functionally special about it—it's just a spacer.
When I removed the top cap,
there was no bearing seal.
Or so I thought—it was stuck to the inside of the top cap.
This is pretty unusual, so I thought something was off.
I cleaned it up to have a closer look.
↑The retainer ring appears to be bent.
↑For comparison, here's the unbent section
When I shook the cleaned retainer bearing, the balls just fell out everywhere.
The previous image shows the state after the balls had completely fallen out through the bent section,
and no matter how much I shook it after that, not a single ball would fall out anymore.
↑The retainer ring was definitely bent.
I replaced it with a new bearing of the same size (36/45°, 1-1/8"),
so I won't be using this one anymore, but even when I tried reassembling it,
the seal didn't fit properly.
One more small thing—
I mentioned to the customer, "With this bolt length, you're going to cut your knee when standing and pedaling,"
and they said, "Oh yeah, I do that sometimes."
Just as I suspected.
↑They wanted me to lower the stem position on this.
According to Trek's concept store
(which is a dedicated Trek shop, not just a retailer),
they said it was impossible to go any lower,
and they also said they couldn't replace the top cap.
That's complete nonsense. What an idiot.
You really shouldn't be touching road bikes anymore.
The FSA top cap is a universal component, so as long as the internal diameter matches,
you can get lower ones made from aluminum or carbon fiber.
This time I went with aluminum (because it's cheaper).
The concept store claimed that the pink anodized aluminum spacer
in the first photo absolutely had to be installed under the stem,
but it doesn't seem to come standard on the complete bike anyway,
and there's nothing functionally special about it—it's just a spacer.
When I removed the top cap,
there was no bearing seal.
Or so I thought—it was stuck to the inside of the top cap.
This is pretty unusual, so I thought something was off.
I cleaned it up to have a closer look.
↑The retainer ring appears to be bent.
↑For comparison, here's the unbent section
When I shook the cleaned retainer bearing, the balls just fell out everywhere.
The previous image shows the state after the balls had completely fallen out through the bent section,
and no matter how much I shook it after that, not a single ball would fall out anymore.
↑The retainer ring was definitely bent.
I replaced it with a new bearing of the same size (36/45°, 1-1/8"),
so I won't be using this one anymore, but even when I tried reassembling it,
the seal didn't fit properly.
One more small thing—
I mentioned to the customer, "With this bolt length, you're going to cut your knee when standing and pedaling,"
and they said, "Oh yeah, I do that sometimes."
Just as I suspected.