Robert_in_ca

Should I?

I'll be using a Chris King headset.

KrisPistofferson

My LHT is at the LBS right now, getting a King headset installed. I figure, why not spend the extra dough to get it done properly if I just spent $130 for a component?

CdCf

I didn't do anything to my LHT apart from scraping the excess powder coating off from the tube face with a knife.

Cyclist0383

Same here. There really is no need to ream and face a HT.

EDIT: From the Surly site:
MAKE IT SO, #1
The first thing that should be done to all frames, not just ours, is to have it prepped by a competent professional. It’s a good idea to face the head tube and fork crown. Facing removes excess paint and metal at the ends of the head tube and the fork crown to ensure that all the pieces of the headset square up and operate flawlessly. Surly frames are faced before they are painted, but the paint can build up enough to make your headset operate less than perfectly. Most facers are also reamers-- they shave the tube ends and mill the inner circumference-- but you don't really need to ream it, so we Surlies usually just shave the paint off the head tube ends with a carpet knife blade. You cand save a little money doing it this way, but if you have your shop do it with a facing tool, it should be sharp and in good condition or you might do real damage to your new baby. It is not necessary to remove a lot of metal, just the paint. Next, examine the bottom bracket shell. If there is excess paint on the threads, have them chased with a BB thread cutter. Do the same thing with the derailleur hanger threads if your frame has a hanger. Also, if your frame and fork have disc tabs, have them faced; due to material fluctuation in manufacture, disc tabs are almost never perfectly aligned, and while most calipers are designed to adjust to a certain amount of misalignment, facing can solve many problems before you get everything installed. Again, a competent mechanic using the proper tools with sharp cutting edges should be doing this. At this point you can install all the parts if you so choose, but we recommend also protecting the inside of the tubes.

https://www.surlybikes.com/spew9.html

mx_599

Lht?

Cyclist0383

^^^

Long Haul Trucker.

https://www.surlybikes.com/longhaul.html

KrisPistofferson

These threads always make me want a Long Island Tea.

rmfnla

There's an old engineering maxim that says a bearing is only as good as its mounting.

That really applies to loose-ball sets, though; cartridge bearings are much more tolerant of minor misalignment and not-perfectly-parallel faces.

waffenschmidt

FWIW, I just built up a Cross-Check. The crown surfaces looked good and I used a cartridge bearing headset, so I didn't bother with reaming or facing. I also didn't chase or face anything, as none of the threads had any significant amount of paint in them, and the faces looked good. I did clean up a bump of paint on one of the BB faces with sandpaper, but that's it. Everything went together well and it all looks good. As rmfnla said, cartridge bearings are tolerant of minor misalignment, but personally I doubt if I would have had a problem even using loose-ball bearings in the headset or BB.

I don't see the sense in spending the money for reaming, chasing and facing unless there is some obvious problem. If it all looks good and goes together without problems, why spend the money or risk having someone screw up your new frame doing something that doesn't really need to be done?

YMMV.

rmfnla

You bring up an excellent point; headset bearings are not exactly high-rpm parts, so even loose-ball sets are not that sensitive to misalignment.

More important is that there be no looseness, or play, since the repeated impact of road shocks will quickly destroy a loosely assembled unit.