Get Yer Head Set
As I joked last week about needing a Chris King headset, you probably have guessed that the Jeunet is still a maintenance casualty. I used some webbing to hang her from the garage rafters and took the fork off. I suppose its a bad sign when the grease in the headset is stained with rust. After I cleaned the top cup I noticed a nice, deep groove all the way around. Crap. Then I dropped one bearing, which is still MIA. My irrepressible roommate helped me with the Search And Rescue for a few minutes, and offered sympathy of a kind by reminding me that this is the sort of thing that happens to him all the time. Of course, Heisenberg reared his ugly head and ensured that I don't have any replacement bearings. I really need to get it together and order a new headset. Denunzio keeps telling me to buy a Chris King, but I am having difficulty spending as much for a headset as I spent for the whole bike. I may cheese out and buy a Shimano 105. Until then, the Red Trek is running strong, the weather is warm, and the garden continues to grow.
posted by dr lothar at 11:58 AM
2 Comments:
heres the things. how much is bike worth to you? and how much do you want to maintain the integrity of the Jeunets "frenchness" and "vintage"? you are entirely right in balking at the notion of spending more on one part than cost the bike.
for me, most frames worth getting are worth keeping. however, i've never owned a pre-1980's vintage bike, and am not overly concerned with mixing new parts with older ones, or maintaining the 'era', so to speak.
since the King is hands down the best functioning headset on the market, which includes outlasting every part on your bike sans frame and fork, and since there is nothing worse than cruising down your favorite hill while deciding to come up for a little no-handed maneuver only to find out your headset is sticking because it is shite or is either too loose or too tight so you decided to make it too tight so you don't ovalize your head tube, and then your bike begins its dangerous dive into the ditch, only THEN will you curse the 4 year life of your current headset on your frame and cough up the money for your favorite color King headset (after of course paying down your medical and dental bills).
2:40 PM
or you could get the 105 with change.
3:14 PM
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