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. 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?

--

David L. Johnson

__o | ...nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or
_`\(,_ | property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
(_)/ (_) | within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. --
Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

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 http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

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
http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/

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!!