Italian / British thread headsets....

FINNEY1973

Senior Retro Guru
A) Am I right in thinking a british threaded headset is o.k to use on an Italian threaded steerer or

B) Have I read something somewhere and the above is total nonsense?

Cheers
 
They are essentially interchangable........ :)

Something to do with the angle the threads are cut at between ISO and Italian.

Shaun
 
That is what I like to hear...not happy with the prices of Italian threaded headsets so that answer has saved me some $. Parts bin has come up trumps again.

Good work Shaun, I thought I'd read it somewhere before but can't find anything definitive on-line.
 
Somehow I'd missed that cribsheet, I found his written explanations on headsets but that sheet is just the job.

Thank-you kindly.
 
Well that failed miserably - tried an English thread and after a few turns there was too much resistance - undid it and there's slivers of thread on the inside of the headset - damn & blast - I like tinkering with bikes but headsets do my head in!!
 
I have fitted British threaded headsets to Italian threaded steerer's and British threaded freewheels to Italian threaded hubs with no bother. Are the threads on the steerer and headset in good order? And I dont want to be cheeky but is it definately a British headset and Italian steerer? What makes are we talking about here?
 
Yep, I was expecting it to be straightforward - no issue at all with the threads, nice and sharp on both steerer and headset.

It's an Italian frame - 70mm BB shell, believed to be a Rossin or Moser but I can't prove it's provenance. Campag Chorus headset, going to see if another headset works I guess is is the best thing to do now?
 
Just installed an Italian BB with no issue, threads furthest into the BB are a bit clogged up with grime but no cross threading and no need for excessive force.

Tried a Shimano (English) thread headset and same thing - couple of turns and then it requires too much force for it to be right. Very confused! Shined a spotlight around the threads on the steerer, second thread down had two 1mm pieces where the thread wasn't straight and was pushed over to the 3rd thread down. Took the hacksaw and carefully re-cut the damaged sections - job done, all works a treat. Absolutely amazed that such minor damage would create so much of difference to the thread installation!

Perseverance and a keen(er) eye the key to this quandary. Cheers for the advice as always.
 
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