Dale sez: "Leave it [the keyed washer] out and the headset will vibrate loose."
Wow...I've never seen/had that happen on any bike of mine that's running without a keyed washer...I just use two headset wrenches, lock them very tightly against each other, and they never budge. My old Windsor came with a fork with a fairly short steerer tube, and it's gone thousands of miles without one (without incident), as have numerous other bikes I own or maintain.
I spent a bunch of years in physics and engineering courses, but none if that is helping me formulate a explanation for a properly fitted and assembled headset coming loose in the way Dale describes. Anybody who thinks they have a plausible mechanism by which this would occur care to explain?
Seems relevant, since it seems like vintage bike folk are often doing headset and/or fork changes, and the washer gives us an extra millimeter or two (one direction or the other)
Scott Minneman San Francisco, CA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of oroboyz@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 4:57 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]headset keyed washers
Some sort of washer that won't turn (keyed or flat section) is important to the proper adjustment and tightening so it will stay tight for threaded headsets. Leave it out and the headset will vibrate loose.
Smaller builders often do not have the ability or tools to mill a slot/groove in the steerer tube, so most often they file a flat in the steerer threads to accept, albeit a bit sloppily, the keyed washer. A proper fork & headset assembly should never be without a keyed or flat section washer!
Dale Brown cycles de ORO, Inc. 1410 Mill Street Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 USA 336.274.5959 http://www.cyclesdeoro.com http://www.classicrendezvous.com
-----Original Message----- From: chris@velo-orange.com To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 1:54 PM Subject: Re: [CR]headset keyed washers
Actually, many of the best custom builders don't mill key ways in their fork
tubes. I guess the washers are nice if you only own one wrench ;<)
Chris
http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/
Kim wrote.
Hi all,
Are keyed washers always used between the race and the locknut of both the upper and lower portion of the headset? What would happen if they were not used. Thanks for the comments. ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.