Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - 70's raleigh grand prix headsets?

hi all! i'm happy to have found this board. i've been looking for somewhere to ask questions and learn about bikes.

anyways: i have a 70's raleigh grand prix that i've swapped out nearly every part on except the headset. i've read that the 70's english raleigh's have a unique thread spacing for the BB and headset. i had a shop switch over the BB, and they just said "it was a pain in the ass", and charged me a bit extra, but it's in there, and seems fine. however, i have no idea what they did, and what it did to compromise the structural integrity of the frame. now the headset is giving me problems, and i want to upgrade. does anyone know of a headset that will fit the thread spacing of my bike, or someone in boston i might be able to go to that could do this for me?

also, anyone know of anywhere in boston that does powdercoating for reasonable prices?

thanks!

hi all! i'm happy to have found this board. i've been looking for somewhere to ask questions and learn about bikes.

anyways: i have a 70's raleigh grand prix that i've swapped out nearly every part on except the headset. i've read that the 70's english raleigh's have a unique thread spacing for the BB and headset. i had a shop switch over the BB, and they just said "it was a pain in the ass", and charged me a bit extra, but it's in there, and seems fine. however, i have no idea what they did, and what it did to compromise the structural integrity of the frame. now the headset is giving me problems, and i want to upgrade. does anyone know of a headset that will fit the thread spacing of my bike, or someone in boston i might be able to go to that could do this for me?

also, anyone know of anywhere in boston that does powdercoating for reasonable prices?

thanks!

Harris Cyclery would definitely help with your headset http://www.harriscyclery.com they are in West Newton so it is a little bit of a trip. They specialize in older bikes.

As far as powdercoating goes, use the Search The Forums feature and use Boston and Powdercoat as your keywords. There is a place in Attleboro that will do it for cheap.

harris is probably the first place i'd go if i need to go to a shop, they're great! however, i'm more looking to find out if i can buy a headset that will fit my threading and just switch it over myself.

As a beginner I don't recommend taking on the task of headest replacement. It requires specialized tools that are pretty expensive. But if you do want to try, check this page out:

http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh26.html

Check www.bikeville.com/3speed.html under Raliegh/Sturmey Archer parts section.

I believe it is only the top race and locknut that are not interchangeable. Crown race, cups, and steerer tube diameter are all standard 1" stuff. So if your top race is good (you can re-use the locknut), then the rest should be easy to find. If not, then maybe eBay has some NOS.

There are some DIY tricks to installing the head cups (search mechanics forum), but it best to have an LBS do it.

That being said, you could always get a new fork if you can't find a headset.

I have "Modernized" many '70's Raleigh’s and had no "brand specific" issues.
The bb conversion is nothing special. I am surprised you LBS charged you extra. They must have not known about cottered cranks when they quoted the job.

Enjoy

they didn't charge me much, thats for sure. it was under $30 to switch out a bottom bracket and crankset onto that bike.