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Your stem there, check the stem diameter because it’s an early one. Earlier stems for head clip headsets are 22mm compared to the usual 22.2mm and you won’t be able to use it in a fork with a conventional headset. Apologies if you already knew that!
This is a problem I have noticed (the size difference). I guess this may be another of those metric to imperial cock ups.
I suspect the difference may cause a potential danger, because If you use a 22mm stem in a steerer intended for 22.2mm you may cause undue stress on the steerer by overtightening the headclip bolt and crushing the steerer slot down onto the stem.
I have had a steerer fail (see photo below) and I feel very lucky to have escaped without injury - I was going uphill rather slowly when there was a click and suddenly no connection between the handlebars and the front wheel. Ninon at Bicycle Workshop told me that when headclips were common this type of failure wasn't all that rare.
I'd be most interested to hear what others think about this
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clubman
absurdbird
I think your Wikipedia link is broken. This one should (lol, will it?) go to the Hiduminium alloys: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiduminium
I just got completely sucked into reading all of that and then got onto Duralumin and Y Alloy. Had to stop! Interesting stuff, so it’s a casting alloy and needs heat treatment, followed by age-hardening at room temperature for a week. Strikes me that it’s not very stable and I’d wonder about its physical properties being the same after 80 years! I’d wager that many failures might have happened as a result of this or incorrect heat treating. It’s not exactly the strongest stuff to start with either. State of the art at the time though!
Your stem there, check the stem diameter because it’s an early one. Earlier stems for head clip headsets are 22mm compared to the usual 22.2mm and you won’t be able to use it in a fork with a conventional headset. Apologies if you already knew that!