Current Projects chat and miscellany

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MCamb in reply to @Jonny69

Clip type stems on single bikes are ~22mm diameter quill, not 22.2mm like usual. The pinch bolt in the clip holds it in afaik and there’s no wedge or expander.

Ah, I didn’t know that. The stem is actually too narrow in diameter for the clip to hold it at all- it sits in there with a sizeable gap, and secures (somewhat) with the expander further down.

staines

Thanks v much but its quite a distance!

I’ll experiment with some alternative quills for now

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themidge in reply to @MCamb

Hilary Stone has some good info about head clip headsets:
http://hilarystone.com/CCheadsetsandbbs.html

Depending on when/where/by whom the frame was made, the headset will have been designed to fit with a 1" (external diameter) steerer or a 31/32" steerer (external again). My Hetchins has a 1" steerer despite being pre-war (31/32 was more common then) so a normal Cinelli 1A fits in fine and securely without needing the expander. I guess you might have a smaller diameter stem installed by someone thinking the steerer was 31/32" when it's actually 1" ?
The fact that it's a tandem headset probably complicates things as well. If the stem will tighten with the expander further down, you could try on of those really long Nitto quill stems to see if the extra length allows you to get it secure and shim it at the clip to stop rattles.

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