Hello from Michigan!
- Thread starter chilehed
- Start date
It did eventually, yes.
Spring is here and my ski season’s over; if you’ve never skied Jackson Hole, change that.
Parts have been arriving. It’s got Old Man Mountain Divide racks front and rear now, and I’m eyeing a pair of Carradice Super C panniers for after the rest is done. I got a VeloOrange rear freewheel hub on hand and a front hub motor kit from Grin is on the way; the plan is to lace them with Velocity Dyad rims and add a set of black VO 45 mm fenders.
The headset feels lumpy because the races are brinelled (hadn’t noticed that before), and while I could yank the cages and pack the races with a different count of loose balls I’d really prefer to get sealed bearings. But the stack height’s only about 33 mm and it ain’t easy to find a sealed bearing headset anywhere close to that. I’d hoped that the IRD Technoglide would work, but the bearing it comes with doesn’t seat well on the race of the fork (photo attached). AFAICT my options are to recut the fork to match the bearing (I have access to a lathe), keep looking for a set that works out of the box (I’ll contact Tange and ask), or hang it all and just replace the old headset with a new Tange Levin CDS.
Parts have been arriving. It’s got Old Man Mountain Divide racks front and rear now, and I’m eyeing a pair of Carradice Super C panniers for after the rest is done. I got a VeloOrange rear freewheel hub on hand and a front hub motor kit from Grin is on the way; the plan is to lace them with Velocity Dyad rims and add a set of black VO 45 mm fenders.
The headset feels lumpy because the races are brinelled (hadn’t noticed that before), and while I could yank the cages and pack the races with a different count of loose balls I’d really prefer to get sealed bearings. But the stack height’s only about 33 mm and it ain’t easy to find a sealed bearing headset anywhere close to that. I’d hoped that the IRD Technoglide would work, but the bearing it comes with doesn’t seat well on the race of the fork (photo attached). AFAICT my options are to recut the fork to match the bearing (I have access to a lathe), keep looking for a set that works out of the box (I’ll contact Tange and ask), or hang it all and just replace the old headset with a new Tange Levin CDS.
The marking on the tube is TANGE 6C MADE IN JAPAN.
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letsbike
Well-Known Member
I'm all for protecting the critical component that is the headset while riding wet and dirty conditions, but I take the cheap and easy route by using this product. After twenty five years and replacing maybe three times I have no complaints about the performance.
Thanks for the fork information.
Thanks for the fork information.
Attachments
@letsbike , I just noticed that "TANGE-TR-R" is stamped around the dropouts, and eyeballing with a ruler the rake's about 45 mm. Factory documentation says the original fork was supposed to be a Tange 124B with 54 mm rake, and since I've gathered that 6C is a date code indicating March1986 it's pretty obvious mine can't be original.
And of course I finally realized that my difficulty with the race might be resolved if I, you know, pulled the old race off and replaced it with the one that came with the new headset. Damn, I always used to hope that someday I'd never be a dumbass again. I tried using a box cutter blade as a wedge to get it started, but just effed up the blade. It's on there really tight, so I'll just have the shop do it.
And of course I finally realized that my difficulty with the race might be resolved if I, you know, pulled the old race off and replaced it with the one that came with the new headset. Damn, I always used to hope that someday I'd never be a dumbass again. I tried using a box cutter blade as a wedge to get it started, but just effed up the blade. It's on there really tight, so I'll just have the shop do it.
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Yeah, but it's not likely I'll ever need it again so the ten bucks they charged me to get it off was worth it.
And don'tcha know, it turns out that the crown race ID is 27 mm, so it's JIS! Snap... looks like my options are
- Find a 33mm stack height JIS headset to match the existing fork.
- Take 0.3 mm off of the steering tube shoulder so I can use the IRD Technoglide headset.
- Find a new fork with a 183mm steerer, 45mm offset, sized for an ISO race.
Aaaaaand the flats on the motor axle are exactly 10mm apart, so it won't quite fit into the 9.4 mm dropouts. Hmmmmmm...
There's not enough meat on the axle to bring the flats 0.6 mm closer to each other. I've got a torque arm to manage the motor reaction so unless I can find a new fork I'm thinking I'll open the dropouts up and chuck the steering tube in the lathe to take down the shoulder so I can press the race on.
It's been a moving target, indeed. I was concerned about the chainline angles having durability issues with the added motor load if I used a mid-drive, so I decided to go with a Grin eZee front hub with a Fischer AG torque-sensing BB and a 48V 19Ah downtube battery.So, now you are installing a front hub motor? I reread the entire thread and am unsure of everything that you are planning. How about a complete update? With pictures of course...
Parts list so far is:
- Sugino Signature 165mm triple crank arms
-SR and Sugino Colorado chainrings.
-Shimano 600EX freewheel
-36 hole VO freewheel hub
-Connex 808 chain
-Dia-Compe DC189 brake levers
-Tektro R559 dual-pivot calipers
-VO threadless stem adapter
-Dajia Cycleworks trekking handlebar
-Dia-Compe ENE stem mount shifters
-Shimano PD-EF202 flat pedals.
-Old Man Mountain Divide racks front and rear.
I got the crankarms, chainrings, freewheel and chain from South Salem Cycleworks, and Michael was very, very helpful and patient in helping figure out what I need. I highly recommend him.
Tooth counts are unchanged from stock.
I plan on lacing the hubs with Velocity Dyad rims, using 35mm tires (Schwalbe Marathon, likely) and adding black VO 45mm fenders.
I don't really have any new photos to show, the bike's all pulled apart now but here's the kit from Grin.
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So the original fork is JIS? I'd contact Doug Fattic in Niles, MI and see if he can cut it down to ISO.
I'm pretty sure it's not the original fork, but it's definitely JIS. Thanks for the name, Niles is a couple of hours away but looking at his website I think it'll be worthwhile to not have to do it myself.
Doug's a helpful guy and active in the cycling community.