Originally Posted by
hillzofvalp
I feel ridiculed and see that you may feel ridiculed. Let's have a party.
I never said I was going one way or the other. It would be a general tendency for some OP with a certain mindset to want to stick to that mindset. I am completely open to hear opinions, as well. If it sounds like I'm not gravitating to your solution or your cyber-friend's solution, then I would like to see you keep your emotions to yourself. I also had trouble visualizing the technical issues.
I'm building up a frame from scratch. I have some 31.8 bars around that I would like to use. I like threadless stems cause they are readily available. I like the durability of a Chris king. I need a 1" threadless headset anyways for other future builds, should I want to switch it out.
I figure since it's a used carbon fork I ought to get it replaced anyways, and I will. I wanted to try my presumptuous idea because I thought it would be a short term solution.
The cost of getting new bars, threaded stems, and headset is greater than or equal to getting a threadless stem, new fork, and headset. (might I be able to recover some cost from selling the fork that's 13 years old?). If it's more, I would find it to be worth it as I will never have to replace this headset again (and got for half price!)
Does anyone want to trade their 1" untapped fork for my cannondale carbon slice fork from 1998?
First I`ll apologize if you felt ridiculed. I was just asking myself why you wanted opinions if you were dead set on doing this any way.
OK so lets have a look at what youLd have to go through to make this a workable `endever`.
Lets start by putting the bike in a stand, removing the existing stem and bars and front wheel.
OK now lets take off the adjusting and retaining screws on the upper headset and remove the fork.
Please note that this is the point at which a $5 set of bearings is the solution that most people were trying to point you to and you could have just put everything back together again.
But we`re going to disgard the bearings and remove the existing bearing cups instead. Some people use a hammer and screwdriver. Personally I `ve never liked that method. I`d take the largest socket you have that will fit inside the tube and put it an a minimum 10in drive extension. Tap that with a hammer on alternate sides and you`ll work out the old seats without scarring the frame.
You`ll need to check and confirm that the headset is the correct size and that both the frame and headst are a tolerance match for a press fit. OK - lets assume they are.
The new bearing cups need to be pressed in with a bearing press.No - you can`t put them in with a hammer. You need a threaded rod that has a rigid disk at the end that conforms to the inner profile of your bearing race so that it`ll pull it straight down evenly. a bit of grease helps too.
Assuming the profile of the new bearings is different from the old, you`ll also have to remove / install a crown race on the fork.
So lets assume the bearing cups are in. This is where there are too many unknowns. You can reinstall the fork for fit with both the upper and lower bearing races in place.
Ideally, if you bought a low profile headset, you`ll have some threads left at the top. The old upper bearing race is not useful, just the upper headset adjustment nut and maybe the keyed washer. If (IF) you have enough threads exposed, that old adjustment can be used to preload the bearings.
Problem is - this is the point at which that threaded fork was trimmed to size. and its unlikely that you`ll have enough thread by accident. If you get lucky then I`d suggest you drill and tap and add a couple grub screws to stop the adjustment nut from coming undone.
If you get this far with success - the rest is easy. If you can` use that adjustment nut - it gets a lot more complicated. So maybe you should check a few dimensions before starting.