Help please S-Works steel headset..

[Ian916]

Hi guys, been a lurker here for a while, but in need of your help and experience so time to put the head above the parapet. Hello everybody.

I have a Specialized S-Works steel in immaculate condition (slate grey), - been hanging up in the garage doing nothing for the last 12 plus years. I want to put it back to original rigid so have taken off the old Rock Shox Judy's, found the original forks....BUT, - can't find a headset to fit :roll:

Done the rounds of the local shops to be greeted with looks of amazement and puzzlement by the spotty youths behind the counter who have never seen anything other that 11/8", - and then when I start talking about the unusual crown race collar size and they are lost.. Can anybody help me find something that will fit?

If anybody is interested in seeing it I can take some pictures and post them up, - mainly XT of the time but does have some quite rare Huggi hubs which make a wonderful noise!

Ian

 

[scant]

what bike shop are you visiting? 1inch is still a common size. search ebay for a cheap chris king.

 

[Ian916]

the 1 inch is not so much the problem - it is the crown race collar size, - I got a 1 inch Orbit Xtreme from Finch's in Reigate but waste of time as the collar is too small for the forks. Tried Evans special order, no good, - tried Specialized, very helpful but they have nothing, they actually referred me to this site which is how I found it.

If I can't find anything I could go back to the Rockshox which do have a standard crown race collar size but I was really after going to a sub 23lb rigid to use as a go anywhere bike. I recall the ride of it with the original steel forks was so sweet, - its a handmade prestige Stumpjumper essentially, - frame, fork, Ti stem originally was priced at £749 if I remember right. It was at the time when everything high end was going aluminum but I had done that, - and to me aluminum is not right for rigid bikes, it is too dull. You can't get better than a good steel setup. IMO.

 

[scant]

i'm not certain why a standard crown race wont fit. i've had early 90s specialized & they were standard sizes. chris king make custom size crown races on request.. obs you'd have to use there headset.. which is no bad thing.

 

[P20]

Is the orbit a bmx headset by chance? I seem to remember 1"bmx being different to 'normal' 1". Not sure why though :roll:

 

[Ian916]

thanks for the replies so far guys.

It is not a BMX headset. I recall from the days of working in the trade that there were 2 1inch crown race collar sizes, - it could be that it is a BMX one that I need, so you might have hit on something there P20.

The original one was a Tange, - the frame and fork were made in Japan.

 

[tony gti-r]

Is the crown race too big??

If so then i had the very same problem upon removing my Univega forks to fit the Z2s!

Removed the crown race from the forks and it was too big for the Z2 steerer! measured the new steerer and the inner diameter of the crown race - divided the difference by 2, cut a bit of shim steel and it fitted like a perfectly fitted fitty thing!



Tony....

 

[pete_mcc]

There were 2 types of 1" headsets used at this time: ISO and JIS, JIS being the Japanese standard. ISO used a 26.4mm crown race, JIS used a 27.0mm crown race. If your Orbit (ISO) doesn't fit then your forks are JIS (wouldn't surprise me as the forks were Japanese made ones).

So you'll need to find a JIS headset - not hard now with all these track bike shops appearing, or you can have .6mm machined off the crown.

Ebay is always good:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Tange-Seiki-Lev ... 9004r35351

 

[Ian916]

There were 2 types of 1" headsets used at this time: ISO and JIS, JIS being the Japanese standard. ISO used a 26.4mm crown race, JIS used a 27.0mm crown race. If your Orbit (ISO) doesn't fit then your forks are JIS (wouldn't surprise me as the forks were Japanese made ones).

So you'll need to find a JIS headset - not hard now with all these track bike shops appearing, or you can have .6mm machined off the crown.

Ebay is always good:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Tange-Seiki-Lev ... 9004r35351

Perfect, that's the one, - JIS, thank you.

 

[Ian916]

as a footnote to this which could be of use should anybody with a similar problem search this board in future:

I found a 1" headset with a 27.0 collar on the pages of St John Street Cycles website:

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/

A shop I remember from a few years ago, - wacky store mainly setup for mail order but Robin there always kept a lot of spares and parts.

When I get the bike together (assuming the headset does the trick) I will post up some pictures.

thanks again for your help guys.

Ian