Hm, Headlock concept looks interesting, but I can see where it'd interfere with attaching racks and fenders (and maybe brakes? LOL) to the fork crown! Still, that arrangement may be quite viable for convenient headset adjustment (as with the "long bolt and some washers" suggestion!). Interesting.


So I guess I probably misunderstood the bike-shop guy; very likely he was trying to fix my misconception that it's at all usual to adjust the headset just by pushing down on the handlebars (as described here).


Thanks for all the helpful replies!