Do you fit your own headsets?

[Dead Rats]

there are 2 bike shops near me and i would not trust them either

I'm yet to find an LBS in my area that knows how to sort retro bikes. Seems like they're only interested in flogging new rides - I seem to get the same hard sell - 'you shouldn't bother with this old thing, mate, get yourself a lovely new one, look, see how light it is?' - and it's always a dull Giant they want to flog me…

That's one of the reasons I set myself up in business (from home, by appointment) bike shops are increasingly becoming simply retailers > workshops, so I thought it would be interesting to direct my own focus the other way round, specialisingly in refubishing customer's old classics and building one-off retromods, more like a vintage car workshop > a Ford dealership if that makes sense!

I deplore the 'import crap and throw away' state of things these days so I try to repair rather than replace (and I can't get the parts any cheaper than anyone else at present, so not much in the way of mark-up on new parts!) wherever possible, am doing ok with it so far. Lots of elbow grease, it's way I was brought up!

There's a few RB forum regulars doing similar, such as Drystonepaul and Tel... both of whom have actual premises the swanky buggers :mrgreen:

But I digress... as for the OP, I've fitted over a hundred headset cups with a simple homemade press (inc models with alu cups, eg Campagnolo & Hope) and, as stated, so long as you take time & care they work very well. I just made my girlfriend's bike-nut father one for Xmas!

However, I did buy a proper crown race fitting tool, approx £20-25, as they're much easier to make a mess of IME.

But I must say that Cyclus tool looks very good VFM, tempting.

 

[Diamant_Don]

Dead Rats - that's a refreshing take on the bicycle business!

Out of interest - and since I'm only about 25 miles away from you - what kind of money would you charge to replace a headset? I'd have to find one first, of course, and that'll take a little time… but it would be great to leave my bike in the hands of a believer.

 

[Dead Rats]

Dead Rats - that's a refreshing take on the bicycle business!

Out of interest - and since I'm only about 25 miles away from you - what kind of money would you charge to replace a headset? I'd have to find one first, of course, and that'll take a little time… but it would be great to leave my bike in the hands of a believer.

Hey, if you can drop off / collect from M21* I'd fit your new headset to your frame & forks for about £10, £15-20 if you need old 'set removing. Can't see your LBS being any more than that though, so maybe ask them for a quote?

* can do it while-u-wait if we arrange time that suits us both.

 

[Diamant_Don]

Cheers Dead Rats!

Sounds reasonable. And, yes, my LBS would probably charge the same, but the two I've found are both essentially crap...

…so I will probably be in touch when I've found my new headset.

 

[Dead Rats]

Cheers Dead Rats!

Sounds reasonable. And, yes, my LBS would probably charge the same, but the two I've found are both essentially crap...

…so I will probably be in touch when I've found my new headset.

Sound mate. Wasn't pimping for business per se, but I do make a damn fine coffee

 

[Diamant_Don]

Sold!

Be in touch.

 

[Dead Rats]

Great, have a great Xmas meantime.

I will add that there a few pro-workshop tools I'm still saving up for - just the ones that aren't needed from day-to-day - but I do have the more commonly needed ones (taps etc) alongside my trusty 'general' and bike-specific toolkit that many RBers will have too.

 

[Rampage]

You shouldn't need loctite unless there's something wrong with it. Use grease or oil though and do one cup at a time or your risking them going going in slanty.

Isn't it an everyday job for bike shops?

dyna-ti's method works well but perhaps cut off a length of broom handle and drill through the centre to use as a washer inside the headset cup to keep everything central?

 

[mattr]

how do you get over crown race seating and cup pressing ? :xmas-cool:

think it's been fairly much covered, threaded bar, big washers, waste pipe for seating crown races, piece of copper pipe with slots for removing cups.

Mechanical sympathy for removing crown races! (If it's a cartridge headset I tend to slot it before it's fitted. Makes life easy. Loose ball headsets crown races need time with a Stanley knife blade.

 

[stringfellow1946]

Make sure that you check the stack height of your old headset before buying a new one.