could you use the spacers below the bottom headset to make up for the 650 wheel? and could you go bmx and route the brake cable down through the headtube so it doesn't get tangled?

wow. I wish Dutret was here.

I do admit I like the brake cable idea though

+1 on dutret.

you could do the front cable routing thing, but you need to find a stem that it will work on, or a hollow stem bolt that's long enough.

why are you running a 650 wheel?

why are you running a 650 wheel?


the spacers below the headset are going to create a flex point, and a spongy feeling. thats bad. might also just snap off. thats unlikly but impossible. not really a place i want to create extra stress.

oh, i'm not. i don't even do freestyle stuff. i was just thinking that if you wanted to do barspins, etc. and not worry about compromising the headtube angle, you could use spacers, yes?

The star nut would be the issue here, you'd have to file out a large enough hole in it or something, not totally unreasonable though. The brake cable looping back up to the brake might get in the way of spinning too. If you used the spacer idea the brake might be low enough not to hit, but the cable still might.

Seems easy enough to just take the brake off when doing tricks anyway though. That brake lever on the bars would get annoying.

Finding a hollow stem bolt isn't hard. BMX quill stems have been around for a long time.

FSA makes a starnut/topcap that you can route a cable through. There are also several compression-type top caps that are hollow for cable routing.

I would actually prefer a threadless setup for front brake routing. My old setup was a PitA to keep running. I don't know how many quill wedges I broke.

The rear-brake trick is to use enough cable to get at least one barspin. It also nets you style, because you have to reverse the spin to untangle your cable during a line.

Somebody should run a gyro instead.

In a gyro headset they use a hollow bolt that threads into the star nut. the front brake cable passes through that hollow part bypassing the star nut. Right?

edit: ah yes i see

i saw this at the alley cat i was at this weekend, you could just be like this guy

You really don't need a starnut. Just for the preload. Once that is set pull it out. Sheldon had an article on this.

I really hope I never find myself "wanting" to do barspins. Maybe it is because I've never been into BMX or freestyle. Thankfully I've never sat up in bed in the middle of the night and thought, "Jesus christ, I need a smaller front wheel so I can do barspins!"

I would be more worried about a snapped fork than the logistics of the cable routing.

Edit: and the lower race would not be in contact with the bearings.

potts mod to a hydro disc brake on a 650, how rad would that be

Sometimes mountain bikers put spacers below the crown race to get down tube clearance for a long travel-fork. Or you could get a headset with a tall lower cup. Both of these would give you extra down tube clearance, but they would slacken your head tube angle.

i've seen stems on older hybrids (lol) that have holes for running a brake cable through the steertube.

^^well, it's supposed to slacken it because the headtube angle is compromised with a 650 wheel (as opposed to the usual 700).

i don't know why i'm bothering with this, though. i don't do tricks.

Yes to the second question: use a BMX hollow bolt. It's been done already (on a FG bike, even).


What the heck is going on with that fork**********

i'm going to go wayyy out on a limb and say that it's bent?

dude was drunk, hit something

The problem with spacing out the bottom of the steer tube would really be the bearing race. You'd have to find some way to mount it to the top of the spacers. You could get a framebuilder to extend the headtube.

And I think the brake cable issue would be complicated by the little clearence between the fork and the tire. It needs a good amount of space to make a smooth curve.

I think these issues were solved by the BMW Gangster, and that bike is hideous. Luckily a few framebuilders are making cutouts for the front wheel so people can do barspins with normal geometry.

I've never seen a unicrown fork that bent out of shape. Looks totally cool!

It almost looks like you could just turn that bent fork around and it wouldn't be so bad

bump