Speaking of which...I tried using a Tange Levin headset race, a Campagnolo cup, and a set of Campagnolo caged bearings. It worked. Nothing rubs. The is a pretty large gap for dirt and stuff to enter (the Tange doesn't have as much flange as the Campy, but there's room for a thin washer that would fix this problem. The stack height might be reduced by as much as 2mm, which would be fantastic in some situations (like my old Windsor Competition, that came with some headset with *very* low stack height).
So, this *is* an option for people who cannot find (or don't want to pay for) a Campagnolo crown race. I know, the curvature of this race is probably not what Marks Handbook would recommend for the ball diameter, but these are point contact bearings, so it'll be difficult to convince me that it'll be a problem, as long as each ball is hitting a single point on the hardened surface (i.e., it's not like the point is going to be a radically different shape or something).
I've got a bike or two where I could try this out. I'd be happy to do so and report back, but it won't be immediate. There may be other headset models where some of the minor issues I'm seeing with this combination would be mitigated.
I can cut some of the sealing washers out of Delrin on my lasercutter. If anyone else wants to participate in this franken-headset experiment, drop me an email and I'll send you the part.
Cheers,
Scott Minneman San Francisco, CA USA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Carb7008@cs.com Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 11:32 PM To: johnb@oxford.net Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR] Damaged headset race
John, I couldn't agree with you more about any attempt to adjust headset bearings with attached wheel, bars and cables is starting with a big handicap. However, some say that stem should be installed during this procedure because when its tightened, the steerer tube is shortened (deformed?) to an extent that adjustment is affected. Since I do not install stem, I'll leave to others to verify this phenomenum, but I will keep this in mind and check for
it during my next HS service.
Please excuse me for so many recent postings on this and closely-related subjects. Some have suggested bordering on Off-Topic but I found this discussion facinating, very informative and potentially life-saving to increasingly expensive and hard-to-find vintage parts.
Jack Romans
Sacramento, California