Missed It By That Much

Agh. While my trip to the Bike Kitchen tonight was entirely excellent in that with the excellent assistance of the supervising cook the crown race on the fork got set (the crown race is the little ring that the bottom headset bearings roll on) and so did the top and bottom headset cups.

The only thing left was to come home and install the new forks, except when I did I literally came up a thread or two short, meaning that there was nothing for the headset lock nut to grab onto.

I wondered aloud, how can this be, godammit? Even going so far as to extract the new forks and measure them up against the old ones — and they were exactly the same overall height with exactly the same 220-mm steerer tubes.

The problem was the bearings of the new headset were of the sealed variety in comparison to the bargain basement ring o’ exposed bearings that were the original equipment, and the new bearings casing was juuuuuuuust efuckingnough to keep the locknut from mating with the threads atop the steertube.

Gah!

So Le Noir is to be mothballed again for another day or two as I must now await delivery from nashbar.com of a fork with the 240-mm steerer tube and a set of spacers to fill in the excess should I not wish to risk cutting it down.

Of course now I’ve got to figure out a way to extract the crown race from these forks ‘cuz I’m gonna need it for the new ones.

Bikes, man. Just when you think you’re on, they pull you back off!

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Will

Will Campbell arrived in town via the maternity ward at Good Sam Hospital way back in OneNineSixFour and has never stopped calling Los Angeles home. Presently he lives in Silver Lake with his wife Susan, their cat Rocky, dogs Terra and Hazel, and a red-eared slider turtle named Mater. Blogging since 2001, Will's web endeavors extend back to 1995 with laonstage.com, a comprehensive theater site that was well received but ever-short on capital (or a business model). The pinnacle of his online success (which speaks volumes) arrived in 1997, when much to his surprise, a hobby site he'd built called VisuaL.A. was named "best website" in Los Angeles magazine's annual "Best of L.A." issue. He enjoys experiencing (and writing about) pretty much anything creative, explorational and/or adventurous, loves his ebike, is a better tennis player than he is horr golfer, and a lover of all creatures great and small -- emphasis on "all."