Originally Posted by
SvenSurly
Apologies for posting what I fear may be a stupid question, but I haven't been able to find an answer on the boards already.
I'm having my frame stripped and painted, so everything's obviously coming off, including the headset and races. They appear to be in fine condition, so I'd rather not replace them. But I was wondering if there might be some hidden difficulties getting them back on the frame once the paintwork is done.
You'll want to have the mating surfaces of the headtube reamed and faced to clean the paint out. It takes a well-equipped bike shop to do this, but it's straightforward. A good shop will also have a press for reinstalling the headset cups.
I've done this after having a frame and fork powdercoated. It's like a new bike.