Whats up with a mallet and block of wood?

See the bit about the ding in the head tube? ;-)

Ain't no dinks in my head tube!

You'd have to get it pretty badly wrong with the mallet and block of wood approach to get a head tube ding there.

I can only assume it wasn't working so he took a furious swipe at the bike?

I would rather call it a day on the ride than let you bodge the job like that.

Having seen how a headset press makes light work of the job, its the only way imo.

I agree. I've done plenty with mallets and blocks of wood, but a proper press is about a thousand times better in every way.

Proper press??!! PAH!

Rear QR and 2 big washers is all you need. Tighten, release, take up the slack, tighten, release etc etc.

It somehow surprises me how people will make do without the proper tools for the job. Most of us ride in groups and it stands to reason that maintenance is gonna cost.

About 2yrs ago i agreed with a mate i had been riding with for yrs to split the cost of tooling. Every time a job needs doing we buy the tool and half the price. We can pretty much do anything on a bike nowadays. Anything else we need that is specialist, like removing HTII BB, others in our group have the tool. Its amazing how quickly this mentality builds up a very comprehensive tool chest.

Its amazing how quickly this mentality builds up a very comprehensive tool chest.

Although not quite as quickly as my "I need a tool, I'll buy it" mentality ;-)

Tongue out of cheek for a second, I agree that the right tools make some jobs a piece of piss - cable cutters for example - but would you take ALL your tools with you on a weekend away biking? I wouldn't.

I don't have a headset press (yet) but it's on the wish list. Just seem so bloody expensive for a job you rarely do. TBH I leave headsets in frames and get a new one with a new frame so once it's fitted, you only have to bugger about with the crown race. Cue hammer and flat blade screwdriver......

on holiday in whistler and all the shops were shut we resorted to a rock and a bit of jenga. no dings and all went well.

Just fitted a poxy new Cane creek S3 to my old '98 kona caldera. The Block of Wood and Mallet worked just as well as when I used to pop the badgers in with a headset press in the bike shop.

Although i didn't do any damage to the headset and it fitted sweetly first time. I think i would be a little too nervous to do such a thing with a super expensive headset and probably opt for using my headset press. :p

"Although not quite as quickly as my "I need a tool, I'll buy it" mentality ;-)" Thats the mentality we have, its just that we dont buy one each, we share the one.

In a organised group there should be nothing stopping you getting some pretty specialised tools. Headset press, bearing puller/press, bb remover, cable cutters, cone spanners, bleed kits etc etc. I bet it would save big bucks in the long run.

I find I tend to need those kinds of things at times of day that don't lend themselves to popping round to someone's house to get them ;-) Also I hate lending tools out. But yes, if you've got a handy group of nearby and trusted riders then it's a winning plan ;-)

Never lend tools to anyone!

*awaits Dyland article on how to slacken the head angle on you bike mid-trail with little more that a few misplaced spacers*

;-)

Using some bits I made this so that I could use it to install this.

£7 + a few parts lying in the toolbox = a saving of £60 on LBS installations over the last 6 months.

No hammers involved at any time ;)

LOL, if Dyl's current fork modification fails he'll have more than a slack head angle to worry about! ;)

I bought a Cyclus press for £35.

Good work sprökitt...Inspired me to make a few more tools in the workshop.

When I bought a new sort of forks, I paid £5.88 for the LBS to swap the crown race over, and I had to pay more for the forks than online. I only bought the forks from the LBS coz I though the service was going to be better and they lent me to the impression that they would fit my forks FOC, but oh no, I had to fit them myself. SO I had to wait longer than the net, and pay more.

Anyway... you'd be amazed what you can do with only a few tools.