sjpitts 

It took me about a year but I finally talked another forum member out of his 98 Lemond Maillot Juane frame. I wanted an 853 for my wife, and that frame is a great purple color that I knew my wife would like.

I am planning to build it with a mix of ultegra 9 speed triple and 10 speed campy ergo shifters. I am probably going to use a Jtek shiftmate #2 to make it work, but I also understand that I can use a campy 10 speed RD with that combo to work. I will probably depend on whether I find the campy long cage RD or the jtek shiftmate first.

But I also need a headset. And I don't know much about headsets. I would like to get get a quality alloy headset-- something in 50 dollar range. I have done some reading, and I see where many people recommend the Tange Alloy Levin headset, and it appears to be in that price range. I also see some people recommending a cartridge headset.

But I don't know what size headset I need. I am pretty sure that I need a standard ISO headset, but I am not sure what stack height I need.

The 1998 Lemond Catalog:

https://ia600500.us.archive.org/1/ite...1998Lemond.pdf

helpfully lists the stock headset as a Campy Chorus (22.2/30.2/26.4, 36.5 stack)

I think the first three numbers (22.2/30.2/26.4) are just the standard ISO numbers-- right?

And the 36.5 stack height-- that is where my question lies. Do I need to find a replacement headset with the exact some stack height? Or would a shorter one work with a spacer? And what about a taller one?

Rivendale lists the tange levein alloy as having a 37.5 stack height

https://www.rivbike.com/product-p/hs2.htm

Would that work? Would I need a spacer or some sort? I really have no idea.

So thanks for any recommendations

And here are pictures of the frame and bike as it was originally built up:

JohnDThompson 

If you use a shorter headset you can always add spacers to make up the difference. The Levin alloy might work if you left out a spacer, but it would be safer to use a shorter headset

sjpitts 

Thanks for the reply

From what you are saying it sounds like you can always add spacers to a headset to make the stack height taller, but you can't always remove them to make it shorter. Is that right?

looking at the picture of the tange levin alloy on rivbike.com it appears to include one spacer included with the headset. So maybe if I removed that spacer, or got a shorter one it would probably work? But can you use actually the levin without any spacer? Or could I just find a thinner spacer? We are really only talking about 1 mm here.

OTOH, can anyone recommend a headset that has a 36.5mm or shorter stack height?

Thanks again

Puget Pounder

You are correct.

I don't know how nice of a headset you want, but the Tange Levins are a great value. This one lists a different stack height than yours, but there are so many Tange things bearing the "Levin" name.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tange-lev...s&currency=usd

divineAndbright

You can try to use a different spacer also to bring the stack height down, but don't expect much more than half a mm or so, it really depends on the headset.

The shortest 'obtainable' headset I've ever come across was a 1990s shimano 105, the HP-1055, its something like 33mms. Was always my go-to headset which I can get to work where I figure there could be stack height problems. I think the dura ace's and 600s of the era are around the 36mm mark.

sjpitts 

I was wanting relatively nice, but not Chris King nice. So basically a good alloy headset. And I may consider paying a little more for a cartridge version.

The levin you are linking to is the chrome steel version. I was wanting a little nicer than that.

Puget Pounder

I'll try again. A friend has this and it works great:

https://www.ebikestop.com/ird_technog...r-HEAD6001.php

sjpitts 

That looks pretty good. And it has a stack of 35.3, so a bit less than the stock chorus. Seems like a good option.

Road Fan

Is your LeMond coming with the Campagnolo headset? Tange makes good headsets, but if you're getting the Campy or can get the Campy, why not use it?

NOS Chorus headsets should be in between the Tanges and a Chris King as far as price.

A headset shorter than the original MAY and SHOULD be a workable solution, but a headset with the original stack height WILL be workable.

Barnett's Handbook is floating around as a pdf, at a site called icelord. The chapter on headsets has a compatibility guide with a table of headsets and stack heights. You can at least see what does match your bike before buying a new project.

sjpitts 

The seller kept the headset and rest of the group for another build. I would do a chorus headset, but I am not really sure what model to look for. A quick ebay search for threaded headsets did not reveal any that looked the same. I found more record headsets for sale, but they did not have the same stack height.

Do you know what Chorus headset I would be looking for, and where to find one?

Road Fan

Ok, 99.9% chance you need an English threaded and sized headset. If you have or can borrow a micrometer, measure the seat diameter of your fork and use that to select the crown race ID you need.

I think the only choices in a Chorus were English and French, perhaps Italian. There would not have been a range of stack heights available. Essenially, a Chorus is a Chorus. As far as where to find them, I tend to start with Ebay. For basic info, such as pictures, I'd go to VeloBase. The guy who maintains it is here on BF. It's carefully maintained but errors can creep in. They also seem to get corrected, by elves I presume. For detailed information straight from the horse's mouth go to the Campagnolo website and hunt around for spec sheets for Chorus threaded headsets.

It also used to be that you could find very detailed LeMond specs on their site on line. I don't know if this is still the case. But American company, I'd expect English sizing standards.

JohnDThompson 

Here's a chart showing some common headset stack height:



(reproduced from Barnett's under fair use doctrine to discourage copyright infringement of downloading the whole manual from icelords)

jimmuller 

Here's another question (which I asked in a different headset thread but for which I never received an answer).

Sutherlands lists subtly different lower stack heights for different headsets. They could differ by a full mm or more. Do any of you every consider how this affects the at-rest position of the front of the bike compared to the back? Stacking the steerer tube higher off the fork crown would seem to increase the head tube angle and also increase trail. On the other hand more or less air in the front tire could also position the front higher or lower, so perhaps it doesn't matter.

sjpitts 

Ok, I am still trying to decide what to do here. I have been leaning again towards a traditional bearing headset. Not sure why, but I was. So I did some more looking, and found another Tange Levin alloy headset. This one is on ebay from Velomine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tange-NJS-Al...#ht_1183wt_648

It doesn't give the stack height, but I sent a message to Ben and he said it was about 34mm. I don't know why it would be shorter than the one Rivendale sells, but that is what he said. So I am thinking of giving that a shot.

Velomine also sells Record headsets, and those are listed as having the perfect 36.5mm. But they are also 25 bucks more.

Finally, I got a picture of the stock Campy headset that the previous owner removed from the frame.



Looks pretty normal to me.

Road Fan

Ok, good point, but in my recollection there is more to that table.

Road Fan

Now the stack height is the vertical height of all the stuff in that photo, making sure the spacer and the crown race are included with balls installed. It should be equal to the difference in height between your steer tube and your head tube. Can you provide those? The only way to be sure of what you need is to measure. Well, you could just buy a bunch of HS and try them all ...

Bianchigirll 

I know factories have to (or atleast they did in the threaded days) but this is exactly why I seldom cut a fork. I never liked taking a new frame and fork and triming the fork for one HS especially something short like those shimano ones

JohnDThompson 

Yes, there are three more pages. But since the OP mentioned the original headset was 1", threaded, and 36.5mm stack, I only reproduced the page with 1" threaded parts that stack or shorter.

"Fair use" allows for reproduction of limited amounts of a copyrighted work "for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations:"

https://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

Going beyond that invites infringement.