Gideon's bike life - Genesis, Graham Weigh, Cinelli, Land Shark & Ritchey

Gutted for you about the Donohue but that's a very cool replacement.

Cool, I sold that to TM about 4 years ago

Yep. Gideon lives about a mile down the road from me so was able to deliver it for him this morning en route to work. It’ll get a better life with Gideon than it ever will with me!

Shame about the fork @GideonPARANOID I thought you said those looks had loads of steerer. I’ve not got anything that long in road, got the old threaded fork I ran on it but it’s slightly longer think you need mid drop brake, it’s pretty rustic tho.

GT looks wicked

Yeah, I was overestimating how many spacers I'd used previously too. Managed to find a NOS threadless Tifosi one online for not a too ridiculous price, so going to try that with that. Hopefully doesn't take too long to turn up, but I'd understand if it's a while!

Cheers, @jontea, @jono84 & @Hulsroy!

New fork arrived for the GT, looks good so set about installing it & there's no chance I'm getting the headset on - way too tight. Turns out it's probably a JIS crown race fitting, but all my 1" headsets are ISO.

Flaming heck, why are there multiple standards for 1"? Ridiculous. Really frustrated as I was looking forward to riding it this weekend, & now I don't even know what to do. Can't even send the fork back as I've cut the steerer a bit :(

Edit: seems this headset comes with two crown races for ISO & JIS. Will give it a punt. Nothing's ever bloody simple, is it?

Get a new headset? :)

Yeah, just found one. Annoying & disappointing, compounded by a frustrating day at work has me in a tizz.

Are you planning to use the new crown race with your old CK headset or just use the new MPart headset?

The crown race of the CK one is quite flat with only a little lip, I suspect that the M:Part headset will come with a more conventional one so best to use the headset it's designed for.

Is it nothing a bit of careful filing can sort?

Don't fancy my chances on keeping it round, & the lip is pretty small so wouldn't want to damage it.

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You know a man's having a frustrating day when he's eating dinner on the stairs, and there's a hammer out of the tool box. Hope new headset works out ok, looking forward to seeing it all built up.

File the fork? Are you absolutely sure it's not just a very tight fit? I'd be persevering to use the ck headset in your shoes

A bend hammer by the looks of it

Obviously a very frustrating day then.

Ha, yes. Went out for a little CX ride & that's chilled me out a bit now. I bent the hammer trying to pry an old fence post screwed into the wall of the house. Expected the rotten wood to give, but the tool did first. Partner is still annoyed with me that it no longer fits in its box.

I don't really want to damage a new fork or the CK headset which I could put on other bikes. Happy to use another headset if it's the right thing, not as bling obviously, but I've had good experiences with M:Part headsets before.

How much we talking? I filed the crown of a fork down once carefully, really didn’t take much. Just do it. Otherwise there’s a crown reaming tool somewhere at work but. Just file it down very carefully!

...

0.6mm according to Sheldon Brown. Going to give this headset a punt first. Don't feel confident with filing down the steerer, reckon I'd get it ovalised in some way & that'd screw up the headset's smoothness. If I had a more precise set of callipers I'd be tempted to try, but mine are just cheapo ones.

We’ve got a tool that does it.

The headset came this morning & days this warm, sunny & windless aren't to be wasted. Had nothing to on at work so took the afternoon off to finish this off in the garden & take it for a spin.

Feels pretty good to ride! Certainly less racy than the Donohue, but not a slouch. Feels good to have a proper road bike again.

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That I like! Glad new headset worked, rather than butchering bits.

Aye, cheers! Happy how it's turned out.