Hi Edward,
Thanks for your reply. Indeed, seems that what I got is far from unusual... Could you maybe point me to any pictures that show the headset parts outside of the frame? In other words, what should I be looking for (my frame came without one, obviously). In particular, what do the parts that fit into the headtube look like, do they have the cylindrical portions that fit into the head tube proper, or do they go into the head lugs' "cups"? (I did find similar looking head tubes on some of the bikes on Wooljersey, but I did not find any photos of headsets out of the tubes.)
Thanks again.
Friday, September 7, 2007, 1:05:56 PM, Edward Albert wrote:
> Dima,
> What you call unusual, was actually the norm for bikes from all over
> the place from, I don't know, the turn of the century, right though the
> post WWII era. The head tube "races" matched the fork crown race and a
> top crown race that screwed down on the steerer tube. they sometimes
> had loose balls and sometimes had an inserted ring that fit into the
> race. Look at any of the old track bikes on woolJersey and you will see
> them....Just looking around the room I see them on two Drysdales (U.S.),
> an Umberto Dei (Italy) , and a Pop Brennan, etc, etc, etc.
> Edward Albert
> Chappaqua, NY, USA
>>>> dima <dima@rogers.com> 09/07/07 12:04 PM >>>
> Hi,
> On a whim I purchased a Bates frameset (with Cantiflex tubes and
> Diadrant forks). It arrived today, and I must say I am stumped by the
> head tube - specifically, by what appears to be headset races which at
> the same time seem to be parts of head tube lugs. Here are a few
> pictures:
> http://dima.softmaster.co.uk/
> http://dima.softmaster.co.uk/
> http://dima.softmaster.co.uk/
> http://dima.softmaster.co.uk/
> The frame was recently painted, and to me it looks like the paint in
> some places is as thick as the yellow on Van Gogh paintings. So at first
> I thought that whoever painted it left the head set races and painted
> them too, but on further inspection I saw that it wasn't so - that those
> "races" seem to be one with the lugs... and the insides of those "races"
> do not actually look much like ones, but of course they *were* pained
> over, and so it's hard to say for sure.
> So please, could somebody enlighten me as to what the heck is this, and
> what kind of headset would fit this?
> Thank you very much.
> (And yes, the paint chip seen on the first photo is apparently the
> result of shipping; there's a flat spot about 7mm long... hopefully that
> is fixable...)
--
Cheers,
Dmitry Yaitskov,
Toronto, Canada.