My Allegro has a french diameter steerer. While my 3TTT Record stem fits just fine. my headset (Stronglight) wasn't french and left a slight gap at it's upper lock ring, enough to cause a annoying wobble when I tugged at the bars when out of the saddle. I fixed this by taking the recommendation of a gentleman I met on Chuck Schmidt's retro ride. I fashioned a shim out of a beer can and wrapped it around the quill of the stem. placed right under the headset's lock ring so it's hidden.
Is it the ideal way of fixing it? Certainly not - I should look around for a headset that is better suited for my configuration. Did the temporary fix work? Absolutely. Wobble-be-gone.
So there yo go, take it for what it's worth.
Peter LA
CYCLESTORE@aol.com wrote:
> Boys Boys Boys,
>
> French headsets (and steering tubes) are too small for safe installation of
> 22.2mm stems. As I recall someone suffering from an anal, cranial inversion
> wanted the French steerer (22.0mm) inner steer tube of his bike to be
> enlarged to 22.2mm. As I recall over half of the metal would have to be
> removed-you must remember back in bike school we were taught that French
> (22.0mm inside) steerer tubes are smaller on the outside as well. They don't
> have as much metal after the removal of .2mm as you might think.
>
> The numbers escape me but I'm sure my good pal Jobst Brandt would have an
> opinion on the subject or you can look up the nitty gritty details in your
> bike shop's bathroom copy of Sutherland's when you visit over the weekend.
>
> I say having the surprise of once breaking off a steerer tube of normal
> dimensions and discovering the delights of human flight that reducing this
> safety (?) margin by more than half would be dangerous and foolhardy.
>
> I feel that the Swiss bike mentioned (often they use French fittings) has A)
> not a French headset, B) A French headset and a French Stem, C) a modified
> 22.2 to 22.0 stem, D) A mangled steerer tube with 22.2 stem inserted
> (common), E) A cleverly modified death steer tube with a poor guarantee, or
> F) this bike features Alien intervention.
>
> All kidding aside. Of course these things have all been carefully measured
> with precision tools by competent list members and all facts noted in Dales
> Brown's Great Book of facts so my guess is "F", " alien intervention".
>
> ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ......>>.>>>>>......>>>>> Just in from CBS news, Jobst
> Brandt has called in his read on this subject and is weighing in his opinion.
> Here we go.
> Jobst has declared Pat Buchannan the winner in a landslide of the
> Presidential Race. It seems he has discovered through engineering
> excellence, protocol and ignoring the facts that the whole Bush-Gore-Nader
> thing was run by Alien impostors with mind control capability and Pat being
> the only US citizen left standing in the race, Pat wins by default. On a
> side note Jobst agrees with Gilbert on the Alien side plot to seed classic
> cyclists with Swiss bikes with the dual whammy of French headsets with
> ISO(22.2mm) steerers. Improbable but true.
>
> Gilbert"where is the broom wagon in this election"Anderson
>
> In a message dated 11/9/00 3:27:32 AM, feldmanbike@home.com writes:
>
> << Yes, a Mondia I used to own which was 22.0. I owned the bike in the early
> 70's, it was probably made between 1967 and 1970.
> David feldman
> ----------
> >From: Jerry & Liz Moos <moos@penn.com>
> >To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> >Subject: [Classicrendezvous] Swiss bikes and stems
> >Date: Wed, Nov 8, 2000, 6:34 PM
> >
>
> >For those who may run across an old Swiss bike, I measured my 1969
> >Allegro Special and found that Joe was right - even Swiss bikes with
> >French HSs have 22.2mm stems. At least this is true for two of his
> >bikes and one of mine. Does anyone has an example that contradicts
> >this?
> >
> >Regards, >>