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thirdraildesignlab posted a photo: View of my Walnut portage strap, as stitched onto the frame of the wrongbike fixed- gear conversion project in it's second incarnation after a recent tear-down.Wrongbike is a fixed-gear conversion of an old Vista road bike. The current set-up is:1. Vista original frame and fork, sandblasted and powdercoated nuclear trigger yellow-orange, with chrome fork accents2. Nitto Tecnomic quill stem3. Nitto Moustache bars4. Toshi leather bar wrap with cork bar end plugs5. Original Vista headset6. Walnut portage strap7. Mavic Pros laced to a White Industries Eno Eccentric hub8. Sugino cog and Messenger crankset, 72 inchgear9. gumwalls, for science10. Brass Universal Sound Bell on Velo Orange retro bell headset mount.More on the build can be found on www.teamlopetyreclubbe.com

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The Past, Both Glorious and Fleeting

build your own headset/bb cup press

02/02/09

Posted in: TLTC Items to Amuse by ironlung | Comments (0)

pressiy8 build your own headset/bb cup press

take one piece of threaded rod (i used 3/4"), two nuts with threading to match, two big washers (i used 2.5" diameter and 1/16" thick), two smaller washers (i used 1" diameter and 1/32" thick), assemble as above, and you’ve got a homegrown headset cup press. dedicated tools from park and otherwise will cost you upwards of $150, and with the minimal frequency of use, they’ve never seemed worth it to me. also, i’m cheap. hahaha!!!

(note : i used two washers on each side just to disperse the strain that the nuts exert on the washers. so working from the outside in, it goes nut, small washer, big washer, in that order, on each side. see pic for reference.)

now, also, i stumbled across ANOTHER HOW-TO, and they’ve added a couple rubber gaskets to the inside, which are the crowning touch as far as i’m concerned, because they keep the tool centered on the cups. something that i’ve run into with mine is that i have to start by tightening it only a leeetle bit at a time, and keep re-centering the washers on the outsides of the cups. not really a big deal in the end, but it seems the person who posted that link there beat this problem, so i recommend combining the dimensions of mine with the rubber gaskets of theirs.

a couple notes…
+ the reason i used thicker rod and beefier washers on mine than the dude at the link used on his is that i use it not only as a headset cup press, but also as a BB cup press (such as for older "american" BBs, or for "american" to "euro" BB conversion cups). when using it as a BB press, specifically when installing conversion cups, it exerts massive strain on the tool. the parts are cheap, so it’s always better to overestimate in the interest of strength and usability.
+ make sure you get a long enough threaded rod! my press proved to be insufficient for pressing both cups at the same time into loos3y(tm)’s head tube. i had to press em one at a time and it was a fucking CHORE. so don’t skimp.