On 5/1/07, Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> I'd guess early Mavic headset, but not prototype. I say this because
> I have one just like it still in its Mavic box, and there were a
> couple of more just like it at the store I got it from back in the
> late 1970s (Marina del Rey bike shop here in Southern California).
>
> The lack of steel races looked like too much hubris on the part of
> Mavic (from JPR design?) and soon after (?) they incorporated steel
> races into the headset. Sometimes lightness isn't the King but turns
> out to be only the Joker.
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> South Pasadena, CA
>
> I doubt weight consciousness would be the motivator that caused someone to
> attempt to pass off aluminum races for steel bearings. Hubris or an
> unfamiliarity with bearing tribology seem more likely. A DLC-type treatment
> might help, but coatings however hard applied to soft substrates like Al
> combined with point loadings like ball bearings entail seem destined to
> premature failure.
Kurt Sperry
Bellingham WA
USA