headset installation without tool

Michael Pearlman said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a
1" threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a
custom frame.

Why are you using a cheap headset on a custom frame?

Bill "use a crowbar...on your WALLET!" S.

David L. Johnson said:

Michael Pearlman said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but
the job went easily though it took a bit longer that way.
I cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time
have I beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love
this newsgroup.

The proper tool being a rubber mallet?

No, no, no... a machinist's vice, after squaring up the
headtube faces on the disc sander!

Really.... both headsets spin fine, no problems.

Michael Pearlman said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but the
job went easily though it took a bit longer that way. I
cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time have
I beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love this
newsgroup.

The fuss is about when you're not so lucky and the
headset/frame combination is [censored]-tight.

~PB

On 23 Jun 2004 05:26:25 -0700, [email hidden] (Michael

Pearlman) said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but the
job went easily though it took a bit longer that way. I
cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time have I
beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love this
newsgroup.

Many years ago there was a HUGE controversy initiated by an
article in (IIRC) Bicycling. Seems a newly hired technical
editor (or something) had significant mechanical experience
with cars or motorcycles or something, but wasn't up to
speed on cycling myth and lore. He recommended installing
headsets using the upper threaded race to press home the
other three races. While it makes perfect sense if you think
about the forces involved, dire consequences were prediced
by many, consequences to include indexed steering.

I still think he had a good idea. :-)

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net
home.earthlink.net~jeverett3Open ↗

Michael Pearlman said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but the
job went easily though it took a bit longer that way. I
cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time have
I beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love this
newsgroup.

The Proper Frame Prep Tools ensure that the head tube and
crown race seat are milled in the proper alignment so the
Proper Headset Tool can evenly press the cups and race into
position. Yes, it is possible to to install a headset
without the Proper Tools and have it come out well, but if
you notice any looseness or binding in the headset that is
an indication that the Proper Tools should have been used. I
trust that that has not been the case in your experience?

--

-John ([email hidden])

[email hidden] (Michael Pearlman) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but the
job went easily though it took a bit longer that way. I
cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time have
I beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love this
newsgroup.

In individual cases there may be no problem, but it isn't
always that simple. Some headset/frame combinations can be a
very tight fit with corresponding diffculty in keeping
everything square. So while you MAY be fine with just the
simplest of tools, equally you MAY have problems. It is
usually better to anticipate the worst.

Andrew Webster

search to
diy headset group:rec.bicycles.tech

On 23 Jun 2004 05:26:25 -0700, [email hidden] (Michael

Pearlman) said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but the
job went easily though it took a bit longer that way. I
cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time have I
beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love this
newsgroup.

A generic 1" threaded headset is probably the one place
where you'll have a chance of getting away with a bodge job.
In my limited experience, such units seem to be aimed at the
"no tools, no skill, no clue" segment of the market, and
they often run a bit big on the crown race ID. That doesn't
seem to be a problem.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to
reply via email. Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

David L. Johnson said:

Michael Pearlman said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but
the job went easily though it took a bit longer that way.
I cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time
have I beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love
this newsgroup.

The proper tool being a rubber mallet?

It works for too many Nouveau Techs...but that doesn't make
it right in every case.

A long bolt, a nut and a couple of big washers will get the
cups in as cleanly as needed more often than not, but that
doesn't make such a rig The Right Tool for the times that it
doesn't work well enough.

The trick is to know what's the right tool for the
*specific* instance, and to use it. This is partially
dependent upon the parts, and partially upon the skill of
the person doing the job. In some cases, it's best not to
watch certain things being done by people you want to
continue to respect.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to
reply via email. Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

Dan Daniel said:

David L. Johnson said:

The proper tool being a rubber mallet?

No, no, no... a machinist's vice, after squaring up the
headtube faces on the disc sander!

Sheesh, and here I thought you were going to say that you
did it like a real craftsman, squaring that sucker with a
horseshoeing file and reaming the tube to size with a flap
wheel on a Dremel.

Disc sander. Ick. Everybody knows you get better results
with a belt sander.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to
reply via email. Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

Werehatrack said:

Dan Daniel said:

David L. Johnson said:

The proper tool being a rubber mallet?

No, no, no... a machinist's vice, after squaring up the
headtube faces on the disc sander!

Sheesh, and here I thought you were going to say that you
did it like a real craftsman, squaring that sucker with a
horseshoeing file and reaming the tube to size with a flap
wheel on a Dremel.

Disc sander. Ick. Everybody knows you get better results
with a belt sander.

And let me tell you how I dealt with the crown race that was
loose when I bought the bike at a garage sale for $50! Put
that fork in the gunsmith's lathe from 1886, Buffalo New
York with the leather belt drive, take down the whole race,
and then lathe a .010" brass shim with beveled leading edge
and I have a .001" press fit job. A nice hunk of pipe
squared up on the.. you guessed it! disc sander- and a
hammer and that puppy slid right home! Pop the frame in the
bench vice and grab the 4 foot bar stock and calipers, twist
that frame back into alignment, and I have a bike that
steers dead on and has a headset that has lasted years with
no problems.

Funny the things you learn when you work with machinists and
do machine work over the years. Like how to set up a disc
sander and sled for true 90s.... or check if the faces on
the vice are parallel and take up any slop in the movement.
There actually was precision of sorts before CNC machines
and this kind of stuff was pretty typical.

And everyone knows the flap wheel is for reaming seat tubes,
not head tubes! Geez.... kids these days.

Werehatrack <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On 23 Jun 2004 05:26:25 -0700, [email hidden]

(Michael Pearlman) said:

I installed a cheap headset from Nashbar today for a 1"
threaded steering tube. I did it carefully on a custom
frame. First time I tried it without a proper tool but
the job went easily though it took a bit longer that way.
I cannot see what all the fuss is about. How many time
have I beed told not to do this? Cannot recall but I love
this newsgroup.

A generic 1" threaded headset is probably the one place
where you'll have a chance of getting away with a bodge
job. In my limited experience, such units seem to be aimed
at the "no tools, no skill, no clue" segment of the
market, and they often run a bit big on the crown race ID.
That doesn't seem to be a problem.

Right, after all, what's the worst that can happen? I can't
usually even tell if a headset is indexed when I'm riding.
And what's the point in a cheap headset if you have to pay
more for its installation than the headset itself cost?
Might as well have a go with the rubber mallet (or a hammer
and a block of wood if you don't have a mallet) and a piece
of pipe (and if you don't have a pipe I'd give the idea
about the upper threaded race a try). Even the homemade
installation tools might not be worth the trouble on a
cheap headset.

JP

Quoted message said:

Right, after all, what's the worst that can happen?

right! and no one who botched the frame will report here.

[email hidden] (g.daniels) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Right, after all, what's the worst that can happen?

right! and no one who botched the frame will report here.

If you can botch the frame without tools you can probably
botch it with tools, since the only thing you're doing is
tapping the cups into
it. Most likely scenario is that you drop the hammer or
installation tool onto one of the main tubes.

JP

JP said:

If you can botch the frame without tools you can probably
botch it with tools, since the only thing you're doing is
tapping the cups into
it. Most likely scenario is that you drop the hammer or
installation tool onto one of the main tubes.

It's also possible to split the crown race and/or flare or
otherwise damage the head tube when installing without the
proper tools. This is particularly a problem with lugless
frames that lack reinforcement on the head tube ends.

--

-John ([email hidden])

John Thompson said:

It's also possible to split the crown race and/or flare or
otherwise damage the head tube when installing without the
proper tools.

You can do that with the proper tools as well.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this:
Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
home.in.tum.deoe quotefixOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Right, after all, what's the worst that can happen?

Mr Daniels ([email hidden]) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

right! and no one who botched the frame will report here.

JP said:

If you can botch the frame without tools you can probably
botch it with tools, since the only thing you're doing is
tapping the cups into
it. Most likely scenario is that you drop the hammer or
installation tool onto one of the main tubes.

I'm reminded of an employee who, a week after learning how
to use BB taps, ran a set backwards (reverse threads on the
left side) through his own frame.

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1
April, 1971

i did that! i was attacked by a prostitute who not only had
lupus but flu! after coughing on me i contracted flu but
was sitting in the hot 110 sun doing the bottom bracket and
the flu shot was battling the flu virus cawsing untold
confusion!! and i mounted it backwards. so, yawl see its
easy to chainee!! remember the rockewt engineer who flew
out then flew back after nagging doubts about a plunger
getting into the Venus probe backwards! and on checking,
expletive chaninye, if it twernt backwards. amazing. the
moral. yawl wanta moral right? se the pig. no really. its
somewhat difficult to know what's going on in an OLD FRAME
or an OLD ANYTHING so care and expertise gores a long way
to not CHAINEE!!

g.daniels said:

i did that! i was attacked by a prostitute who not only
had lupus but flu!

Hate when that happens.

Bill "you funny" S.