Upper steering assembly

Abstract

An upper steering assembly for a bicycle includes a lower race mounted on an upper end of a head tube of a bicycle, an upper race above the lower race, ball bearings between the lower and upper races, a compression socket, a ratchet wheel, an outer socket, a compression ring, and an actuating socket. The steerer tube has a longitudinal groove on an upper section thereof. The compression socket is mounted around the steerer tube and has a longitudinal slit in alignment with the longitudinal groove. The ratchet wheel is mounted around the compression socket and has a protrusion projecting radially and inwardly through the slit and received in the longitudinal groove. The outer socket is mounted around the ratchet wheel and has a radial threaded through hole through which a bolt passes to abut on a tooth of the ratchet wheel, such that the ratchet wheel cannot rotate. The compression ring is mounted around an upper section of the compression socket and has a stop projecting radially and inwardly through the slit and received in the longitudinal groove. The actuating socket is mounted around the compression ring and has inner threadings to engage with upper threading section of the compression socket.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.