English or Italian?

lelobysfoot

lelobysfoot

Retro Guru
I have a Concorde Squadra ex PDM frame with the original Columbus SLX forks. I'm looking to replace the Record headset. Anyone know if this is an English thread or Italian. The BB is Italian (Cinelli aero shell).

Sometimes, if its too obvious, you might just be wrong :?
 
Odd question. There is no " english " or " italian " threads in headsets, only in bottom brackets. The headset will be a world-standard, right-handed thread ( " righty tighty, lefty loosey " at the top of the stroke ).
 
headset

Well, I thought I would ask due to Mr Sheldons info throwing me a bit.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ha-i.html#headset

I know it says 'obsolete' but he doesn't say when. And 'Italian' threaded headsets are still widely available. I know that the ISO will fit but its not perfect.
They are expensive though and I really didn't want to enter into a 'try-before-I-buy' kind of arrangement with a mail order place.

So, can you assure me that my 1990 (Italian) Concorde fork has a 1" ISO thread?
 
Goodness me I might be wrong! I'm well familiar with Italian BBs but never thought or knew there was such a thing as Italian threaded headsets. Tell me any more info you come across mate, I've never heard of this before and now I'm well interested.
 
As above, never heard of Italian threaded headsets before (this of course doesn't mean there aren't any) and interested to hear any more info that people come up with.

I'm guessing they wouldn't have what I think is a fundamental design flaw of the b/bs though
 
headset

Yip, i've delved deeper and found similar queries on other sites.

eg: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=315424

Its a common problem. I'm going to go with the Italian headset given that its an Italian steerer. It appears that they are interchangeable but its not good to be going back and forth, due to the angle of the threads. And I don't know what threading the headset is thats on it.

A long shot would be asking the previous owner of the frame if he knows, but he is out of the country.
Anyway, if anyone sees this thread and knows for sure, I'd be very grateful. The headset might see the winter out.
 
i've had both english and italian frames with 1" headtubes on bikes previousley and never had this issue and i recently built an F.MOSER for a friend, that was a '91/'92 leader AX, same 1 gianni bugno used to win the giro, that has had both campag and shimano headsets in it over the years with no issues.

sometimes you have to be careful of the crown race size, if memory serves, there are 2 sizes, japanese standard and international i think, the difference is 26.4 and 27mm i think but you can have the fork machined at a good l.b.s. to fit one but obviousley you then can't go back.

eventhough i'm a campag man i think shimano headsets are better an more reliable. but in your case it would probably be nicer to have campagnolo.
 
forks

Good news, thanks. I got in touch with the original owner and he's always used Campag headsets with UK thread except for the original one which he thinks was a Stronglight. So I'll stick with the UK threads to keep in line with advice.
I might go back to Stronglight as I'm not too fond of the Campag ones either. My racing bike has a Record integrated headset and its crap. Nice at first but I reckon its a bit 'minimalist' and hasn't lasted well. You torque it up perfectly and it starts juddering on a long bumpy ride.
Can't say the same about the rest of their stuff though.

Thanks for the help folks.
 
I know a girl who was half English/Italian. Had the olive skin/jet black hair. She was a babe. A pleasure to have known her :cool: :D Happy days :LOL:
 
regarding the bottom brackets, how do i know which one - english or italian - i need? i have a KLEIN frame from 1998 and want to put in a new Shimano Octalink BB and am mot sure which one to use.
 
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