Thought I would share incase anyone else encounters this. This vintage French tandem had a worn out headset that needed to be replaced. It is a 28mm french threaded headset so getting a replacement that would fit the Original fork would be next to impossible. Luckily the headtube diameter of this frame is close enough to that of a standard 1 1/8” frame that it “should” fit a modern 1 1/8” headset. After measuring the headtube inner diameter and the outer diameter of the headset i found that it had a negative interference (-0.05mm). I used one layer of “pop” can as a shim which gave me +0.05 of interference. As per park tools recommendation for this interference I used retaining compound. Fit seems good and alignment allows for smooth rotation. This new fork will also allow us to use a disc brake on the front (in combination with custom wheel set I built) and a 1 1/8” quill stem adapter to run a modern stem/bar (old quill diameter was 22mm).
by simplejackbikes
2 Comments
Well done! But you know that you can order French threaded headsets through internet right? So that original fork could still be used.
Occasionally you can find Stronglight headsets for tandems, they are all French threaded. Even British builder Jack Taylor used them.