Last year, I had the opportunity to write a how-to article for the good folks over at C.I.C.L.E. Since then, I have amassed a small collection of hardware (about $15.00 worth) that makes a truly universal homemade headset cup press and crown race installer.
The parts of my handy dandy headset press:
The parts of the basic press include a selection of large washers, a piece of 3/8″ threaded rod (sometimes referred to as “allthread�), a pair of flange nuts and two thick nylon washers to reduce friction between nuts and press-washers.
Don’t forget the nylon washers — it makes things a whole lot smoother:
As in the previous article, I must set out this disclaimer — I didn’t invent this…the concept of a homemade cup press has been around for a long time. I’ve seen versions using only washers and versions using sections of PVC pipe as cup adapters. However, I have discovered a piece of hardware in the plumbing department of my local home-improvement store that really makes this setup a piece of cake to use — some type of copper reducing fitting. Here is the heart of my system:
These little beauties taper down from about 2″ down to about 7/8″. Since they’re made of copper, they are way softer than the typical cups you might find in a vintage or modern headset — even lightweight aluminum cups. And, they are universal — they’ll fit the tightest vintage 1 inch threaded headset…oddball 1 1/4 inch headsets from the mid 90s…modern 1 1/8 inch headsets…heavy-duty One Point Five downhill headsets…even old one-piece bottom bracket cups (�Ashtabula�) found on cheap beach cruisers and old BMX bikes!!
The press is set up like this: grease up and place the headset cups in the top and bottom of the frame’s headtube. Grease and insert the copper fittings and stack appropriately-sized washers on top of those copper fittings. Pass the allthread through the headtube, slip the nylon washers down onto the washer stacks and thread on the two flange nuts. Here is a picture of how the assembly should look:
Then, it is a simple matter of cranking the nuts down with an appropriate wrench (sometimes you will need two wrenches if the cups are really tight). The copper fittings help to keep the headset cups straight as they enter the headtube. Go slowly — sometimes the washer stacks will slip to one side and they should be pushed back into place with your fingers. Crank those cups in until they bottom out and you’re done!
Now, all that remains is to assemble the rest of the headset and ride away into the sunset…but wait! What do you do about those stubborn fork crown races? Well, back to the plumbing department — you’ll need a length of PVC pipe and a plastic endcap. Bring your fork with you to make sure the pipe fits over the steerer. I wound up using a piece of 1 1/4″ thinwall pipe for this fork. Wrap the bottom 2 inches of the pipe with electrical tape to keep it from splitting, slip the crown race down, slip the pipe on and pound it down with a hammer like so:
When the bottom of the pipe becomes mushroomed and beat up from pounding, simply saw off a half-inch and rewrap with tape. I’ve used this same pipe for about 10 headsets…it’s steadily getting shorter, but the whole thing only cost about a dollar. Remember also that if you have to hit the pipe more than 5 or 6 times to seat the crown race, it’s better to take the race off and “dress� the base of the fork’s steerer with a needle file to remove excess paint and weld splatter — the crown race should just pop on and should NOT require brute force.
There, you’ve saved a bunch of money by doing it yourself — no expensive tools required, no trip to the bike shop. Doesn’t that feel great?
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14 responses so far ↓
1 Doug // Apr 15, 2008 at 7:04 pm
This worked extremely well! Thanks - I think you are dead on with the copper reduction fittings, much better than PVC. This worked so well I don’t know why anyone would ever buy a pro press, complete waste of money. I like this site for some other DIY headset related tools, esp the cup removal pipe and crown race setter:
http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/headset-removal-and-replacement.html
2 Chris // Apr 27, 2008 at 5:38 am
Thanks for the helpful instruction on making the headset press. Do you have a link or any info on where to source the copper reducers. I’ve turned up nothing useful in searches thus far.
3 Ghost Rider // Apr 27, 2008 at 7:35 am
Chris,
the copper bit is called a “female adapter”…available at any well-stocked hardware and plumbing supply (Home Depot, Ace, Lowe’s, etc.). Hit the plumbing aisle and start scanning!!!
http://www.pexsupply.com/Categories.asp?cID=142&brandid=
4 Chris // Apr 30, 2008 at 11:15 am
Thanks for the response and link. I shoud have perhaps explained im in the UK so if anyone reading this has any info on suppliers here please reply.
Using your link those 2″ x 1″ fittings are $20 each making the tool at least $40 to make or am I missing something?
5 Ghost Rider // Apr 30, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hmm…I didn’t notice the price. I paid less than $3.00 each for the fittings in the U.S.
Perhaps a trip to a plumbing stockist (is that the correct term?) might be in order to see if something similar could be located.
6 Aaron // Jun 15, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I made one of these years ago and it’s really handy to have around. I never thought about the flanged nut, though. Nice touch!
7 Ghost Rider // Jun 15, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Flange nuts FTW!
8 RL Policar // Jun 16, 2008 at 2:24 pm
GR,
I skipped the whole copper thing, they were $3.87 a piece at Home Depot.
9 Ghost Rider // Jun 16, 2008 at 2:29 pm
But you only need two…and they make lining the cups up every bit as effortless as the stepped cup guides on an expensive “real” press. Sure, you can do the job without them, but believe me, that $8.00 is money well-spent.
10 RL Policar // Jun 16, 2008 at 3:11 pm
When I worked at the shop, I always pressed my cups one side at a time. So with that in mind I figured that I really didn’t need them to line up.
11 RL Policar // Jun 16, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Wait what I meant was, I do need them to line up. But since I’m used to doing one cup at a time, I wasn’t too worried about them lining up.
I did this with Chris King sets…making sure that I did the bottom first, having the KING face the front then the top cup.
12 Ghost Rider // Jun 16, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I always do them one at a time, too…but the photo above shows that they can be done together.
One at a time just really makes things a lot easier, and the reducer fitting helps keep things from getting cocked.
13 RL Policar // Jun 16, 2008 at 4:50 pm
hehe…you said “cocked”
14 Build a homemade headset press for bike building @ Mountain Bikes Apart // Jun 20, 2008 at 4:24 am
[...] The article was posted over on bikecommuters.com which is a site I only recently came across but seems to have a lot of great info. The press itself is a little more reliable looking than the standard home-made efforts and, unique for a DIY headset press, it doesn’t involve one block of wood in the process! The parts seems pretty cheap and easy to get hold of so why not give it a go if you’re feeling brave. Again, headset installation is tricky though and can easily kill your frame so don’t hold me responsible if it all goes pear shaped, i’m just passing on the info, I don’t know how well it works outside my own experience! You can check out the full article at Homemade Headset Installation Tools [...]
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