Headset heresy
07-26-18 | 02:42 PM
#27
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 17,197
Likes: 761
From: Ann Arbor, MI
Bikes: 1980 Masi, 1984 Mondonico, 1984 Trek 610, 1980 Woodrup Giro, 2005 Mondonico Futura Leggera ELOS, 1967 PX10E, 1971 Peugeot UO-8
A better example. My wife has a 1975 RRB she has owned since new. It has its original Campy headset. The bike has been in continuous service. For most of those years it was her only bike and some of those years it was her only transportation. Figure it was used 200 days a year most years and 300 days a year some years. The bike has been repainted twice. Five or six years ago Ron built a new fork. Until a year ago the RRB did not have fenders. Only times the headset has ever been serviced was at repaint or re-fork. Still works perfectly. Consider that through the winter she has always ridden in snow and Chicago salt slush. That is hard service. Campy was not in the business of selling beautiful fetish objects. They were in the business of selling tough bike parts that worked.
I totally agree about Campy making tough parts, but they still fell down on not sealing the bearings. In the mid'70s when I fell out of riding daily due to intensive time at university, Phil Woods hubs were taking over in the hearts and minds (if not the general market) of serious commuters over Campy.
Ron Boi has so much experience, perhaps he set up your wife's headset in some special way, though it is beyond my imagination.
I get aggravated when people see classic Campy as bling, that needs to have "properly" mirror-finished surfaces. I believe in over-good maintenance for it, but that's because it's a non-renewable resource.
07-26-18 | 05:35 PM
#28
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 2,099
Likes: 354
Road Fan
Some Campy parts remain so abundant it makes one wonder if they have a means of reproducing themselves in drawers. Headsets are not one of the abundant parts. For the first time in my life I have no Campag headsets on my bikes. My wife has two. You will not get her to stop using them. Or to change how she takes care of them. Which is let Ron do it every decade or so. He still uses Lubriplate and still sets them up just a touch loose. I too suspect he does something else but darned if I know what it is and he may not know either.
Some Campy parts remain so abundant it makes one wonder if they have a means of reproducing themselves in drawers. Headsets are not one of the abundant parts. For the first time in my life I have no Campag headsets on my bikes. My wife has two. You will not get her to stop using them. Or to change how she takes care of them. Which is let Ron do it every decade or so. He still uses Lubriplate and still sets them up just a touch loose. I too suspect he does something else but darned if I know what it is and he may not know either.
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