Miyata headset tool
 

I am servicing the headset on my 1985 Miyata 110. I have removed stem and also removed the threaded head bolt. Under the head bolt there is a lock ring with 4 notches in it. The 4 notches face upward. Is there a bicycle wrench available to take this off or is there some trick to removal?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Tom

Is the OP referencing the headset's top nut (locknut)? It's hard to tell. If so then I would suggest removing it with a pipe wrench and replacing it with a FAR easier to work with 6 sided nut. Park use to make a series of spanners (SP-x) for lock rings and peg holed parts. Andy.

Tom,

You need a small(er) hook spanner, or lock ring pliers. Neither are particularly common anymore in the bicycle world, though a hook spanner will work fine for the relatively low torque you need to remove/install the lock ring. You may make your own lock ring pliers from a pair of large water-pump pliers, if you want to try avoiding spending the money for a Hozan, which is the only company that still makes them for sale.

From wschruba's post I now believe that the OP is referencing the lock ring that some Asian head sets had between the threaded race and the top nut. It was the OP's use of the term "threaded head bolt" Silly for me to think that the OP knows the difference between a bolt and a nut :) I thought that he was referencing the stem quill bolt...


No wonder we like to see photos.


Anyway a slip joint pliers will grab the luck ring well enough. Then toss it out and replace it's thickness with a spacer or two. Andy.

Or it could be like the one on my 84 Gran Prix - some sort of "aero" unit lockring. This one has 2 notches and I had to modify a beer tapper hook spanner to work on it.

https://www.kegworks.com/spanner-wrench

Sorry guys. I do mean NUT and not bolt. I am computer challenged and am trying to figure out how to post a picture. I agree that the photo usually speaks for itself.
Tom

Thanks for posting the photo. This is pretty much what I was trying to describe.
Tom

take the stem out make a tool out of steel tubing that engages that notch set, your self.

use a hacksaw and metal files.. grab the tool you made with vice grips, or drill a hole thru for a handle across it.

Un screw it, and then get a normal headset to replace it.


edge of bar stock the thickness of that notch width is a good idea, too..




...

We have a tool trader shop in town and he has bins of old odd wrenches and spanners were I found a heavy duty spanner for something and with a little filing the round hook to a rectangle it works perfectly. Might also try a pawn shop that has tools.

If you remove the stem, I expect you could place a piece of small bar stock across two of the notches 180º from each other and use it to unscrew the lockring. I agree, once it's off, replace it with a standard one.

I have a couple of these that I originally bought for taking faucets off my home tap system, that work well for any connector like that. Should be able to find them at any brew shop for $3-4: https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Shank-S.../dp/B004JGS3B4

A little off topic, but are those sized correctly (or modifiable) and sturdy enough to use on old cup-and-cone bottom bracket lockrings?

They can and have worked for me before I built up a tool kit (in conjunction with a cheater bar stuck on the end), but in the end I broke down and bought the Park Tool. It was only $15, and actually gives you the leverage and spacing needed for the BB.

https://www.rei.com/product/710554/p...r-wrench-hcw-5

I wouldn't, if only because it is largely unsupported, compared to a Hozan hook wrench, for example, which wraps close to half the circumference of the typical sized lockrings.

By the way, with the exception of six-point lockrings, I find the Hozan wrench more than capable, even taking rubber mallet hits to break free the rings in stride (carefully held on the lockring, of course...). With 6 point stuff, it's not even a failing of the wrench, in most cases--it's the lockring not having enough 'meat' to survive it.

Incidentally, on topic, the C205 model above, has a smaller side that, while not a perfect fit for headset parts, works well enough to remove/adjust them. One of the cheaper tools they make, and indispensable, in my opinion, if working on older bikes.

Completely off-topic but does your Hozan wrench have "Rock Ring Wrench" cast into it's handle? Mine did.

Mine was post-first-wave of imports, so it does not.

I'm working on a Fuji that has a similar notched ring on the headset. What worked well on this bike was tightening the nutted bearing cup a little which relieved tension on that notched ring.

I've got an 80's Nishiki that has 4-notch headset lock ring. That frame hung on a hook for years because (besides having to many damned bikes!) the headset needed overhauling. I finally found a YouTube video showing how to make a tool out of a smallish pair of channel locks. You basically just file off some of the lower teeth. I made the tool and it worked.

Then as luck would have it, later I bought the proper Hozan lockring tool at a swap meet for $5. One of my better scores. Just started on the Nishiki last week.

I think this is what I bought.
Hozan Lockring Tool > Accessories > Tools > Crank & Chainring Tools | Jenson USA