Originally Posted by
Russ Roth
Although this is a 15yo thread resurrection, I've wondered why it wouldn't be possible to make head cups that would fit the outside of the steerer tube. My guess has been that there is too much irregularity in the roundness of the material after welding and not always enough space for a safe install. I've often thought in a worse case scenario it might be useful to save a frame.
Yep, real Zombie thread but as long as it's back.... One problem with the "external" headset cups is that the headtube may not project above the top tube or below the downtube enough for the cups to seat. I have a 55cm '96 Litespeed Catalyst with a 1" headtube and between the short projections at its ends and the weld beads at the intersections there isn't enough tube for any headset cup to slide over.