How to make a bike headset press & install a headset

Step 2 Prepare headset cups and head tube

- Before you start the head tube of the bike must be faced and reamed, this is a separate process which requires its own tool. If you are welding your own frame you will need to do this yourself, if you bought a frame like I did, it really ought to be already faced and reamed - you should be able to tell by looking for machining marks on the inside of the head tube near the ends.

- Grease the inside of the head tube and the outside of the headset cups.

- Put the headset cups on ice until just before installation, this makes them a little smaller so they go in easier.

Comments

[tasmancrawford]

I have been a professional bike mechanic for 25 years. I wouldn't use wood in a headset installation even if my life depended on it. We use a headset press because people don't like the sound of a rubber mallet. Honestly, a headset press still leaves the headset unshelved against the frame. It is manufacurer approved, but it is typical for a new headset to "seat" after a few miles, and need tightening. On our own bikes, a rubber mallet is the tool of choice. It doesn't scratch the headset, but it shelves the cups against the frame, so you only have to tighten it once. This is a big plus if you are using a Ti or aluminum bolt. Another thing is cooling the headset. If the metal is cold, then gets hot, as it surely does on it's way into the frame, it can craze the metal. Unless it's a King Steelset, or some other odd animal, it's going to be aluminum, and that stuff gets super brittle when cold, then soft when hot. It really is better off to keep it all room temperature, rather than lose anodization on the parts inside where moisture gathers between cartridge bearings/balls, and more importantly to keep anything from cracking. A broken off headset collar inside a frame could ruin the frame's facing on the way out. Cutting (milling the flat faces) and facing (shearing the inside of the headtube round)a frame for a headset should only ever be done once, and with proper cutting and facing tools. If this is done right, a few taps with a rubber mallet should seat each cone perfectly, and snugly, but not so tight as to require more impact than a headset removal tool applies, which isn't much. In the best case, you can afford to spend $10 at the shop to have someone press in your cones. They'll do it at room temperature, and if you need it reamed (a cutting) or facing they can warn you, and provide the service should you choose to have it (usually about another $15). I guess if it's your own bike, word up. My bike? King headset in a custom and polished Ti frame with an alloy steer tube on a Judy FSX carbon fork, long travel piston and spring kit, SRP Ti bolt package. I used a rubber mallet. No scratches, and it's precise as ya can get. Ever see an overtightened headset press? AAAAAH Squished bearing races... ug-Lee

[bedbugg2]

me and my friend just installed a headset with a plastic bag, a wooden block and a hammer :P

[dan]

thanks for the feedback! i actually tried it first with a rubber mallet, but it was so tight it wouldn't go in. then i figured i'd search the web to find out how to get it in, and everyone said i should use a press, and it did work well with the press. the frame had been faced and cut, is it common for it to be so tight? i don't think there was any way i could have got it in with a mallet.

[dan]

also, why are you dissing wood? if you're a bike mechanic it's probably because you don't know the first thing about it. wood is great stuff, and works darn well for a lot of things, including the application here where it is acting as a self-compensating high take-up alignment gasket, as well as a tension monitoring and feedback sensor.