I like all the Stronglight headsets and find them very durable. I just wanted to add a warning that the v-bearing and tapered roller bearings require better facing alignment and concentricity alignment tolerances than a cup and cone bearing. If you retrofit and it binds, wither reface or go back to a conventional headset.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Great Notch, NJ
> From: Michael Schmidt
\r?\n>
\r?\n> "Can anyone on the list educate me on the difference between
\r?\n> Stronglightheadset models "P", "V", and Competition.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Was one model better than the other and where were they on a
\r?\n> timeline of
\r?\n> model introduction.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Lawyer weasel words: Yes, the author of this post did check the
\r?\n> bikelistarchieves."
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> hi Mike,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The Cyclo-Pedia catalog has some detail in the descriptions of these
\r?\n> headsets:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> > 74/p25%20stronglight%20headsets.gif>
\r?\n> or: http://tinyurl.com/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> This info is from the 11th edition of the catalog, circa 1974.
\r?\n> The quick
\r?\n> summary is that the P.3 is the basic model. The V.4
\r?\n> Competition is the
\r?\n> next step up, and utilizes the "V bearing cups". The S.5 Super
\r?\n> Competition appears to have extra steps in the process of
\r?\n> grinding and
\r?\n> treating the bearing races, so it's the best of the three.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> There's a note that the V.4 and S.5 have a greater stack height
\r?\n> than is
\r?\n> typical, which may be important. This is interesting to me, since
\r?\n> Stronglight's current roller bearing headsets also have a
\r?\n> greater stack
\r?\n> height than normal. And for what it's worth, the current
\r?\n> Stronglight A9
\r?\n> headset looks right at home on our vintage bikes (if you don't mind
\r?\n> aluminum parts instead of chromed steel).
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Steve Kurt
\r?\n> Peoria, IL
\r?\n> USA