Originally Posted by
bionnaki
you sure it's not the more common 36mm?
Pretty sure - I have the park BB tool with 36mm flats (HCW-4), and I put that on it just to measure, and it's definitely too big. I measured right on 1-3/8" with my caliper, and that's very close to 35mm. Maybe it's time to get a metric caliper...
Originally Posted by
Six jours
There are actually grades of adjustable wrench. The $5 special is likely to make a mess, but a decent one -- like the Crescent brand, for instance -- is actually a pretty useful tool. I personally have found that a good adjustable wrench properly used is pretty unlikely to mar a headset -- but I have certainly done my share of damage with cheap, poorly fitting "correct" headset wrenches!
I talked to a woman at Menard's. They have both Channel-Lock and Irwin (Vise-Grip) brands that fit the bill, both opening to 1-1/2" (38mm) in the 12" size. Both of these brands are pretty good from my experience, and both wrenches are made in the states, which is my first consideration. Since becoming a tech (my current job) I've learned to shy away from cheap tools, though I don't necessarily buy the absolute most expensive. The Craftsman brand seems to have just about the right balance for me, and the same goes for Park in the bicycle realm.
I figure if such an adjustable works well enough, it would be a good purchase... I can buy one locally instead of having to have it shipped, and can probably use it for other jobs.
I had been oogling over the Milli-Grip
http://www.milli-grip.com/welcome.cfm wrench before and was just thinking this might be the time to get one. Unfortunately the larger one opens to only 32mm.