About this deal
NOTE: If you are not removing bars completely, use care not to kink or damage housing when hanging bars on bike. Removing then replacing an older threaded headset—notably a caged or loose bearing model—with a more modern sealed bearing design is a great way to begin an old bike restoration. Other alternatives to the SFN include any of the steerer mounted stash tool systems that each have unique ways of tightening the headset. A few of those systems include the One Up EDC Tool System, the STASH Multi Tool from Granite designs, the Specialized SWAT system, or the Bontrager BITS. Remove sliding press plate and install cups onto guides. Guides are used to maintain cup alignment while pressing. Cup guides fit most 1-inch and 1-1/8-inch standard headset cups. Before using cup guide, insert guide into cup. If guide appears to jam or is a tight fit, DO NOT use cup guides for that particular headset cup. Do not use cup guides #530-2 if guides press on any preinstalled cup-bearing unit (ex. Chris King® headsets). For headsets not fitting #530-2 cup guides, simply press using threaded press plate and sliding press plate. Pressure on the outer rim of aluminum head cups may visually scar the cups. If not using the guides, it can help to press one cup at at time.
Having dealings with a paint shop in Taiwan is handy. You can usually convince the owner to do a custom job for you. Matching the Nishiki’s color is no problem. And it’s monochrome. No two or more color combos to complicate the spray. Tighten handles of both plunger assemblies evenly until blades begin to wedge under the crown race. Threads of plunger assemblies should be approximately equal relative to outer shell. Continue to tighten the handles of the plunger assemblies until the edges of the blades are snug under crown race. Do not over tighten.
Using the CRP-1
Place a small flat-bladed screwdriver between the crown and the race and turn it gently by about 1/16 of a circle (about 20 degrees). Repeat this all the way around, making the full circle in 8 to 10 “pokes”. You can maintain or repair a bike without most specialist tools. However, the risk of damage to your bike frame, the component you are working on, or both, is high. With that core job out of the way we’d then install a spruced-up crank, toe-clip pedals, a new bar and classic shifters.
A messy pile of components fit under the headset umbrella. Beginning from the base, there’s the crown race. This is a thin ring that slides onto the fork’s steerer tube and sits against the fork crown, allowing a specific headset to interact with a fork. The lower bearing in a headset can have a different shape depending on how it’s designed, so the included crown race “pairs” these two components.Engage sliding press plate onto hex shaft, and push plate upward until headset cup meets head tube. Release lever. Sliding press plate lever must be engaged in one of seven hex shaft notches. Pull downward on lower press plate to test engagement. When rotating the screwdriver, the race should be lifted by far less than 1 mm. Go gently, patiently. The goal is to lift the race as parallelly to the crown as possible, in small increments. After there is enough room to use a larger screwdriver, repeat the process, going around with a larger flat-bladed screwdriver. Again, lift by just a little, at 8 to 10 different places all around the fork. Here you can see a set of bearing cups pressed into the head tube with a second set alongside it for reference.
The key to making a threaded headset work properly is by tightening the top race or preloading the bearing, noting the point where fork rotation becomes stiffer. Headset bearing races are held by an interference fit into the head tube. An interference fit occurs when parts are held together by internal and external surfaces forced together. There must be a slight diameter difference between the two pressed surfaces. Typically, the pressed headset race outside diameter should be between 0.1mm and 0.25mm larger than the head tube inside diameter. When the cups are pressed, the head tube will flex and enlarge slightly to allow the cups to press. This tension is what keeps the cups tight in the frame. Remove fork crown race from fork. Use the Park Tool CRP-2. For specific use of CRP-2 see Crown Race Removal.A threaded headset works with a fork that has threads running from the top down towards the fork crown for several inches.