EamonPVD

Anyone run into a problem where the length of the headtube is too long to adequately use the Bike Hand headset press? I am having this issue. There is not enough length on the tool to secure the bottom press to it. Any ideas? Headtube is 158mm in length.

thanks!

noglider 

This sounds horrible but I have pressed headset cups in using a crude method. Put a board of wood on the bench. Press the cups in partially by hand. Rest the bottom part of the head tube on the wood on the bench. Put a second board of wood on the top cup. Bang with a hammer. Of course, be as parallel as you can but don't worry, because as you finish, it should seat properly. You might want to measure alignment with a caliper.

Generally, the softness of the wood prevents damage to the frame and cups.

100bikes

Are you trying to install both cups at the same time?

EamonPVD

i was only able to attempt to install one cup at a time because the tool has even less length to work with with both cups going at once. Does that make sense?

Miele Man

I use a thick, long threaded bolt with some fender washers and nuts as a home made headset press. I make sure the cups are parallel to the headtube before tightening the nuts much to press the cups in. If the cups are not parallel to the headtube at the start it can be quite difficult to get them to go on.




Cheers

dsaul

158mm is not a long head tube, so there should be no reason why it won't work. The two different versions of Bikehand headset presses, that I found, both appear to have plenty of length to press in a headset in a head tube of that size. Maybe a picture of your setup would help.

EamonPVD

okay yea itd be crazy if it didnt fit. I hope im just doing something stupid. I did hit my head yesterday so let me know what I’m doing wrong...

EamonPVD

EamonPVD

so as pictured, not enough of the tool passes through the headtube to connect to the bottom press.

I was able to install the top with a board and hammer but Id obviously like to use this expensive tool instead

Crankycrank

Just watched their video on how to use this and they used a bike with a very short head tube which did not leave much more length to use on a bike like the OP's. I'd contact BikeHand for some guidance or a return. I can't understand why a mfr. would make a headset press with such a limited range. A 158mm head tube is not especially long or a rarity.

3alarmer 

.
...except for the length of the rod problem, that looks identical to the one Nashbar used to sell (probably from the same manufacturer.)
It's a mystery to me, because the old Nashbar one works fine on head tubes longer than yours, and I can press both cups simultaneously..

That company also advertises a 107B for pressing BB cups, but yours is marked clearly 107. I would send it back on the assumption that maybe they screwed up in what they sent you (107 head with a 107B rod ?)

Andrew R Stewart 

As long as enough install pressure is applied to seat the cups onto the HT faces the method (excepting those that deform the cups) have little bearing (bad pun) to the rest of the job. So bench vices, wood blocks with a hammer, all thread rod and huge washers, or a proper bike specific tool can all do the same job. Andy

kaos joe

That looks exactly like my home brew concoction.

Miele Man

I was putting a headset on a friend's bike and using the tool I made and posted an image of. It was getting quite hard to turn the wingnut. I looked at the cups and was sitting at an angle. I backed off the tool, set the cup straight again and it went on with much less force applied to the wingnut. Would the canted cup have deformed the headtube? I don't know and wouldn't take the chance when an extra few seconds would correct the problem.

Cheers

DrIsotope

Like the posters in #5 and #13 , I just used a foot of 3/8" all thread, some fender washers, and some nuts. Took a few minutes.

Bummer about the Bikehand tool, though. In all of the stock images, it looks like it should be plenty long enough.

EamonPVD

Quite the bummer. It has pretty good reviews. I contacted Bike Hand. Will report back what they respond

Andrew R Stewart 

Could the cocked cup deformed the HT? Sure. But is it likely, no. Steel has a fair amount of spring back, this quality makes it a wonderful frame material BTW. Starting cups straight and flat to the faces and keeping them so the goal.

When using a "tool" without snug fitting sleeves (into the cups' skirts) the cups will follow the path of least resistance. Since the facing, the slight counter sinking or the race, the ID control and the skirt's initial beveling are all across the board the cups can, and will, go crooked. The trick is as you did. Initially set the cups in the HT and then "work" the cups with some method to square them up with the HT (like a hammer tapped on the high points or repositioning the press to better push on those high points).

The slight HT expansion and all should not be an issue if the cups are straightened and pressed in fairly straight after the start. Of course there's the cup's deformation aspect too...Andy

Miele Man

All I did was tape the crooked cup out again, then reinsert it making sure that is sat square to the headtube. When I reinserted the tool and started tightening it the cups went straight in with no problem. At no time did I tape a cup with anything to straighten it.

Cheers

79pmooney

I've done likewise. But I now use a 1/2" threaded rod, washers and nuts plus pipe from Home Depot. $20 and makes pressing cups a joy.

Ben

robertorolfo

A lot of people mention pressing both cups at the same time. I prefer to do them individually, because I think the tube itself, and then the pressed cup, give a more secure point for the other side of the press to work on. Is there a particular reason to press both at once, other than saving a few minutes?

noglider 

@robertorolfo, that sounds better. Now that I think of it, I might have done it one cup at a time. I just can't remember.

fietsbob

& along the home brew line, rather than a carriage bolt a length of Allthread rod works too , just another nut or 2..

...

WizardOfBoz

Does the black stepped cone close to the handle come off? If so, I think you will have space.

mornview

I have this same tool and love it. This might sound obvious, but have you unthreaded the handle as far as it can go? That got me early on.

EamonPVD

i’m not sure what you mean...