I'd like to get a headset adjustment spanner for the lock nut and cone nut of a standard 1970s Raleigh Grand Prix headset. It doesn't appear to be a metric size. Are they available and what size - Whitworth / Imperial? Thanks !

Fitall/Cresent

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IIRC these are Whitworth dimension fittings.

The Gripfast seat binders on Raleigh products of this era and their false-acorn wedgebolt nuts are also Whitworth.

Look forward to hearing from the Heron experts...

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They are indeed.
If you have the OEM stamped sheet steel tool that came w/ the machine when new the largest fitting is for the adjusting HS cup, w/ a crescent wrench on the lock nut Bob is once again your Uncle.

-Bandera

A while back I was looking for the same thing -- at least for the adjustment nut, which measures 1-5/8". The locknut is 1", I believe. I ended up buying a Proto service wrench with 1-5/8" on one end and 1-9/16" on the other. The model is AN8506-21, and they sell on ebay for about $9. Everyone seems to like to use crescent wrenches on them, but the centerpull cable stop is sort of in the way, and I had to use a 12" crescent to get a 1-5/8" opening, and it's just a bit clumsy. I have considered filing out the 1-9/16" end of my Proto wrench for a really snug fit, but the 1-5/8" end fits well enough.

Well that's the issue isn't it clearing that centrepull hanger - even worse on the International whereas the centrepull hanger covers the adjustment nut on a Record headset, that's another issue but it is metric so there's plenty of tools to fit on ebay.

Is the tool you're referring to (AN8506-21) like the head of a spanner with a slot to fit a square section rod for leverage?

Don't suppose you have any spare, Uncle Bob?

I do not, mine is the last relic of a much modified and abused Superbe and resides in a side pocket of my town bike's proper English canvas/leather seatbag like a vestigial tail apparently for ballast or perhaps as a talisman of some sort.

Any Old School Raleigh shop must still have boxes full as they didn't always (almost never) make it into customer's hands on delivery of their new machine.
Harris Cycles must have enough to sink a container ship still.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o...%257E60_57.JPG

-Uncle Bob

That multitool was a grand find in the saddle bag of the old Raleigh I acquired. It lives in the Carradice bag now

With a bit of flint and a stamped steel Raleigh tool one could also strike up a Whitworth spec fire if necessary.

If the tool was American it would have a beer bottle opener/"church key" as well.

-Bandera

Good to know!

Probably why Raleigh went out of business. They could've sold a "The Raleigh bottle opener" and a "The Raleigh church key" et al.

The Proto wrench is just a double-ended, open end wrench. It's a thin wrench and fairly short -- doesn't weigh a lot like a big crescent. The ad for the one on ebay says it's about 3/16" thick. It's a little heavier than the Park headset wrench I have.

Being Whitworth the tool would not have precisely lifted the cap from a bottle of Huber or properly punctured a can of Hamms from the Land of Sky Blue Waters.

Historical Facts: Beer bottles caps were not "twist off" and beer cans had to be deftly punctured with a certain tool pre-lift-tab "back when".
Primitive just like friction shifting and a 42/21 low gear.

-Bandera

Here's one of those Raleigh stamped steel tools on eBay. Last one I found was in a used tool shop, and I believe I paid 25 cents but it might have been 50.

Hey, I just realized I have one of the stamped Raleigh wrenches pictured by Bandera above. Just checked mine -- the big cutout fits the locknut, not the adjusting nut. Unless mine's different from the one he's talking about. Again, I think the locknut is pretty much a one inch nut.

...these things are the cat's pajamas for all things headset. (Except those Shimano curvy assed ones)

That looks good! I wonder if it will open a bottle of Huber?

Those channel lock slim jawed shifters are good but they're not quite wide enough for the adjustment cup which is approx 43mm.

...I just ran the one I have out to maximum (past the 1.5" mark). It maxes out at 42mm by vernier caliper. Missed it by that much.

Nice thin service wrench's spanner's in the 1 5/8" , 42mm size all seem to be pretty pricey. About the cheapest one you can get is $20 or so. Then they might not fir quit right on a older whitworth sized headset. You could a get couple of the cheaper ones then likely file them some for better fit.
https://www.amazon.com/URREA-U3550-1...F16+%22+wrench
https://www.amazon.com/URREA-U3552-8...2F8%22++wrench

And for northerners, all bottles were 'stubbies'. Fave beer before the Age of Good Beer.


Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
I wrap a shop cloth around the oversize wrench.

Thanks everyone for steering me in the right direction

Proto 1-9/16" & 1-5/8" Thin Open End Wrench AN8506-21 Approx 3/16" Thick | eBay

Don't know if this link thing works or not -- I'm not very good at this computer stuff.

Now that's exactly what I was looking for! I also went on search for wide jaw thin profile shifting spanners but this is what I've been looking for thanks!