Does anyone know where I can find these? All the sites I could find online that said they stock them no longer do. I know that Stronglight only makes the A9 ST and JD A9's, neither of which have needle bearings.

They're gone Try ebuy.
https://cgi.ebay.com/Stronglight-A9-H...3%3A1|294%3A50

I've been looking, and unless you want French thread, I have no sources.

Shame. I really love the one that I have, and tried to get two Stronglight headsets that I thought might be made along the same lines - but no luck.

I've read on various bike lists support for the Miche needle bearing headset:

https://www.bikeman.com/HD1600.html?u...ign=GoogleBase

Certainly not the look of the Stronglight A9, but that price is darn good.

Neal

Thanks for your replies.

What are your french sources? I figure I might as well take a look.

The Miche Primato headset right now is my backup. Though I'm really holding out for an A9! Does anyone know about its rebuild? Can it use the same races and bearings as the A9?

Looks like Velo Orange doesn't have even the French threaded ones any more.

Man, and I remember some years back being able to get these sets for $15 each from a guy on ebay, so I splurged and got one set,,,

I've got one that I'll trade for a first generation Dura-Ace headset.

I've got one left in French thread, but I'm going to hold on to it.

I pointed out a couple of years ago that you could get them for $26 at xxcycles.com and there didn't seem to be much interest. Are they in demand now just because they're unavailable?

I think I'm going to buy some spare bearings and races for mine while Ben's Cycle Superstore is selling them cheap.

I bought the last one at my LBS last year.

Primax also makes one. Looks like a deluxe version of the Miche. It is finished as well as the C. King stuff. Bike jewelery.

I picked one up awhile back off Ebay. They show up periodically, just like the A-9. Mine is available as trade bait.

I have seen literature that says the Miche bearings and races are interchangeable with the A-9. I don't know from my own experience.

I only recently discovered them, from when I rehabilitated my Trek 760 two years ago. I thought it was the coolest, and most sensible headset concept I'd ever seen, but a friend told me they weren't made any more, so I didn't bother trying. Wish now I'd bought a couple from Velo Orange when they had them.

What I don't get, is why the more traditional headsets weren't made obsolete by this. They clearly have many advantages over the ball bearing headsets.

I like that the A-9 doesn't look out of place on a 70's road bike. The logo is easily removed with some metal polish. If you saw that tip on the Velo Orange site, I didn't get it there. Chris got it from me.

^well they ARE fussy to set up, and those needle/roller bearings don't last forever, so when shot you have to get the specific replacement parts, rather than just a bag of balls. Other than that, they ARE worth the hassle, IMHO. Also, I reckon Stronglight had a patent so there were no competitors flooding the market with variations.

Looks like they've still got 'em across the pond https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.a...S&currency=USD

Worth picking one up at this price? (I don't usually have trouble with standard cup 'n' cone headsets...what makes needle bearings so much nicer in actual practice?)

If you really want the best of both worlds, try and find the Gipiemme headset that had the needle bearings on the lower race and ball bearings on the top race. Same durability on the lower race but combined with easier adjustability and smoother operation.

I'm pretty sure this is the A9 with cartridge bearings, not the one with needle bearings. I ordered one last year thinking it was one with needle bearings to have as an eventual replacement for the needle bearing version installed on my '87 Paramount. When I received it, it had cartridge ball bearings. It was a big disappointment.

Are those really the ones with needle bearings? It says cartridge bearings. I'd want some confirmation it's the same thing before placing an order. I've already bought two Stronglight headsets that I thought were the right thing, but weren't.

Hmm, maybe Stronglight should invest in another model name...A8...A10...A-okay?

Wasn't there also a tapered roller bearing headset by Stronglight? or are we talking the same one?

Jan Heine and others have written that they're less prone to shimmy than ball bearings.


"Bicycle Quarterly, Volume 6, Number 3

Curing Shimmy on a Bike

by Jan Heine and Mark Vande Kamp

Some bikes shimmy, others don’t, even if they are made from the same tubes. Some believe that poor frame alignment is the cause for shimmy, but we have ridden modern custom frames from very reputable builders that shimmied, even though they appeared to be aligned very well. Yet many older frames with unknown histories do not shimmy, despite being obviously misaligned.

Looking at the variables involved, Jan noticed that he never had ridden a bike with a Stronglight needle-bearing headset that shimmied, yet similar bikes (from the same maker, with the same tubing and geometry) with ball bearing headsets often shimmied.

Stronglight headsets are different from all others in that the bearings align automatically, and thus compensate for imperfections in the facing of the head tube. On a standard headset, the balls on one side tend to run looser than those on the other, because the top and bottom edges of the head tube never are perfectly parallel. Furthermore, the needle bearings of the Stronglight headset may add a little resistance to the headset, perhaps enough to dampen shimmy, but not enough to change the steering characteristics of the bike.

To see whether a different headset could make a difference in shimmy behavior, we replaced the Chris King headset on Mark’s Ti Cycles, a bike with a very strong shimmy under certain conditions, with a Stronglight needle-bearing headset. Mark rode the bike to the workshop with a load in the handlebar bag, and it was easy to provoke shimmy.

After we replaced the headset, Mark tried to induce shimmy as he had before, but the bike no longer shimmied. After numerous attempts, he finally got the bike to shimmy briefly, but instead of continuing until Mark put his knee on the top tube, the shimmy now attenuated on its own within a few oscillations. We then loaded the handlebar bag with about 4 kg (8.8 lbs.). Still, the bike’s shimmy was gone in most speed ranges. Only when coasting downhill no hands at 40 km/h (25 mph), a violent shimmy occurred that was beyond the capacity of the headset’s dampening. Placing one hand on the handlebars immediately stopped the shimmy. Mark rarely rides no-hands at speeds this high, so the shimmy problem on this bike has been mostly eliminated with a simple headset change.

In conclusion, we still do not know what causes shimmy on a bike. From Mark’s and my experience, it is unrelated to top tube diameter. A handlebar bag does increase the likelihood of shimmy on Mark’s Ti Cycles, but many other bikes with handlebar bags do not shimmy. We found that we could eliminate most of the shimmy on one of the worst bikes we experienced, by replacing the Chris King headset with a needle-bearing Stronglight model. If your bike shimmies, it is worth a try."

So why did Stronglight make the switch to cartridge bearings?

Probably because they make more money making them.

Robbie - I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same thing.

This web shop has 'em:

https://www.bike24.com/p2638.html

Not too bad a price of $40. Shipping shouldn't be too bad.