GT Pantera Tioga compatibe crown race? Anyone?

[95pantera]

Hi guys,
I recently bought a 1996 GT Pantera, and I love the bike. One issue I have is that there is play in the headset. Even if I have the compression cap tight that its hard to turn the wheel, there is still play at the bottom of the headset.

I remembered, when i replaced the rigid fork with a rockshox fork from ebay shortly after buying this, when removed the crown race from the old rigid fork, I was able to lift it off with my fingers. It had roughly the same tightness to the rigid fork steer tube as the stem spacers.

The same thing happened when I put the crown race on my rockshox fork, I was able to push it down to the base with my fingers. I'm guessing the guy that put this cheap rigid sunlite fork on the bike, used whatever crown race he could find that would fit on the steer tube. As a result of not having a tight crown race, I believe this is causing the play in the bottom of the headset, regardless of the tightness of the compression cap.

Does anyone know where I could get a crown race that fits the original Tioga headset? I'm guessing its a Tioga Alchemy if thats what came stock with the bike. It says Tioga on the headset, and I doubt the guy ever changed it out if he was so lazy he put a loose race on the fork.

If finding a replacement race will be impossible, can anyone recommend a middle of the road replacement headset? I'm not a pro cyclist, but I also want something of decent quality.

Thanks!

 

[Lhatch4]

Are you in he U.S.? I could send you one.

 

[95pantera]

Yes, I am, about to PM you.

 

[Lhatch4]

Also make sure that the ball bearing cages are installed the right way around. If one is the wrong way around it will create some play within the headset and at the same time it won't pivot well until you loosen the top cap which creates even more play.

 

[95pantera]

Re:

Interesting, I hadn't considered that. I do remember the bottom bearings came out and i didn't pay attention to orientation when I put them back together. I'll take a look tonight and update.

 

[95pantera]

Re:

I'm actually thinking it may be an Aheadset. The lower stationary cup says Tioga, and the upper adjusting core says "Tioga Cartridge System". I viewed the illustration below on the left, and that is exactly my setup, except i have open cage bearings instead of catridges.

I found replacement aheadset catridges and crown race on amazon. Will update, should have the parts next week.

 

[95pantera]

Re:

So update, I canceled the order for the bearings, and went to my LBS to ask about replacement bearings. After realizing how complicated it will be to find a match, i figured I am better off buying a new headset.

In the interest of diy wrenching, I bought a Venzo MTB headset on amazon after reading great reviews. I also got a bikehand headset press after reading a smart statement (It's harder to screw it up with the right tools than with the wrong tools).

Since I'm new to bike maintenance, I figured this is the best route to go. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[mk one]

You can still buy Tioga headsets if you wanted to replace like for like

Mark

 

[95pantera]

I looked around and wanted to find a Tioga, but everything was either threaded new, or threadless used.

 

[95pantera]

Re:

So I got the new headset in place, success! No more play in the headset! The crown race on this headset is split, so it fit on the fork with fingers, but stays tight.

The whole replacement took about 30 minutes start to finish. Most of the time I was trying to figure out how to use my guitar stand as a temporary bike stand. Removing the old cups took about 30 seconds, and installing the new cups took about 2 minutes. Unfortunately I made what I would call an amateur mistake (and I am an amateur after all). I did not line up the cups so the text printed on them look even from side to side before I pressed them into the frame. No matter, this is a cheap headset, and I bought tools along with it so I had to go cheap. Next season I can always upgrade to the more expensive Chris King which seems to be highly favored here, and I'll already have the tools to do it.

I did want to talk about the bikehand headset press. Unfortunately you sort of need 3 hands to operate it. 1 hand to hold an adjustable wrench at the very bottom, and 2 hands to turn the top 2 handles. I ended up holding the wrench with one hand, and twisting the top two handles with my other hand from the center, losing lots of leverage. Probably not a bad thing, because it forces me to move slower, but I would have liked the extra leverage so I could feel if i was forcing anything when I should be backing off.
I recall seeing videos of the park tool where you only put hands on the top levers. So for anyone considering this, just be aware. No problems though, worth paying less than 70 bucks for a tool that otherwise costs more than 150. Next time around I'll have a proper bike stand, but this time around I really wanted to have a headset press.