SummitCoCycleWorks said:
I sent you a PM regarding the suspension fork on the black B-98 but thought maybe some other people might be interested in that as well.
What headset are you using for a modern suspension fork to fit in the prewar frame? It looks like a newer fork so I'm guessing it's a 1 and 1/8" steerer tube?
Heavy frame modifications necessary or is there a quality aftermarket headset that will allow these parts to work together?
Thanks in advance!
I don't know of an adaptive headset, but that is definitely something one of the manufacturers could come up with! These are not the first pre-war bikes I've had, but are the first with this type of setup.
The headsets on both bikes are FSA products. Both of them are 1 & 1/8, and both appear to have been put on a diet. The cups look to have been ground or filed down a bit where the flange goes into the headtube, and both frames appear to have been "hogged out" a bit where the headset flange fits up into the steering tube. The double bar (B-67) headset flanges fit into the frame pretty well on receipt, the straightbar frame (B-98) fit to a degree, but was still in need of some finesse work for the cups to fit into the headtube squarely. A little time with a Dremel solved that issue.
These bikes were both bought as incomplete projects, and had a lot of stuff already done when I got them, and for me to take credit for work someone else did is not right. So far, most of my participation has been to finesse some of the work already mostly complete, and to assemble the bikes to the point of usability. The double bar was no work really other than cleaning some of the components and doing the frame up in teal. The front fork elastomers melted during shipping and the yellow goo from them was all over the front wheel and fork. It took several nights of cleaning to get all of it off the fork, and I ended up scrapping the wheel (to a friend) as it just didn't seem worth the effort and I already had a set of drop center wheels I wanted to use on it.
The straightbar has had me more than baffled on occasion, as the headset fit wasn't something I was ready to jump on, but with some assistance from a friend who had the tools, it wasn't so bad. The biggest thing with it was with the rear hub and brake setup. The hub had no ability to shift do to an internal failure, and as this was the case, I bought another hub to switch the internal parts to the one already laced into the wheel. Once again, I made an error due to making an assumption that I knew exactly what I was doing. Assumptions are bad. Knowing "they're all the same" is bad. The hub I got had different left side bearings and the housing for them. The internal parts are an easy switch, but this particular part is pressed into the hub housing and needed to be "unpressed" and then pressed back into the other housing. Once in place, the adapter for the brake rotor mount had to be "adjusted" to get everything to align. It seems to work just fine now though Shimano says you should not do this..
Other than that, these were pretty much no problem to get into usable condition. Once the straightbar has some ride time to assure there are no issues left, I'll take it apart again to get that frame done.
if you have other questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer. The guy who sold them to me, onecatahula, is a member here, and I'm sure has a lot more information as to the headset modifications, as well as doing the disc brake mount onto the frame at the rear hub. He put these up for a fair price considering the parts that are present in both cases, and the frames alone have sold recently for the price he sold the projects for. I bought the double bar on sight, as I REALLY wanted the frame as I had wanted one pretty bad, but never could come up with the right number when one was out there. The other one was posted a day or two after I bought the first one, and it was sold fairly quick, but apparently the buyer changed their mind. I had prodded Pete a little as I liked this bike too, so he offered it to me as well. This was immediately discussed with the CFO (my wife), and she said to go ahead if I wanted it, so I did. (Sorry guys, her sisters are all taken, and none of them are just like her!)
That's all I've got for now.
Rat Royale
REC Elsewhere
