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Good observation on the headsets.
Unfortunately often the top nut gets chewed up and rounded flats from people adjusting with the wrong tools or not enough care.
Poorly designed headsets work loose so you grab a pipe wrench and have at it.
I remember buying my first Bahco adjustable spanner which opened wide enough to fit any headset (😖) now I have a set of headset spanners.
absurdbird
clubman
A few points from recent posts
Airlite Q/R
The British Hub Co certainly made their own skewers but obviously they were just catching up with Campag. I'm fairly sure the larger barrelled front hubs were a late development - it would clearly be impossible to get a hollow spindle into the (rather elegant) thin barrel.
As I understand it Airlites date from before WW2, but some of the pre-war hubs had the flanges riveted onto the barrels, which did not work well - I think this only applied to the large flange version.
Tullio Campagnolo patented his cam operated skewer in 1930, but I have no knowledge about what hubs they were used in before the war.
Mudguard Sizes
I've always assumed that there was no distinction between 26" and 27", at least so far as plastic guards are concerned, ali and steel may be different but I've always preferred plastic - less prone to rattle. I've just tried taking a plastic guard and putting it over a 26 and then a 27 inch wheel and tyre: the flexibility of the plastic easily allows for the difference. In practice it is noticeable that with 26's the guards look a bit longer, that is the back end comes slightly nearer the ground. This can be seen on the Saxon tandem (post 3462).
Looking at that Bluemels ad, I wonder if they actually meant that their product would fit different sized wheels, or that they really did make different sizes. As for ebay advertisers - do they really know what size the guards they have were intended for? They often seem pretty ignorant.
Headsets
These are probably the most troublesome part of any lightweight - compared with roadsters the much higher tyre pressure used plus the steeper head angle make them very prone to damage.
And it is damage rather than wear - if the bearing is allowed to go even a little loose damage can happen very quickly. Overtightening is almost as bad. This damage shows itself as pitting in the lower race - never the upper bearing. It leaves you with a choice between 'notchy' steering or front brake judder.
The point here is that when you look at a bike's headset you only really notice the top bearing, but it's the bottom end that does nearly all the work - so when renewing you only need to change the bottom end. Therefore you can keep whatever prestigious top bearing you happen to have and replace the bottom end with whatever fits the frame and forks.