I love producing bicycle components. This is probably because I get to do it so infrequently these days. I used to do lot more. Most of what I’m doing and where my efforts are going right now has been in the frame and tooling space.
In the past year, I’ve only done a few projects like this; a chainring spider and some cool brake caliper adapters. Today, I add headset covers to that list. Maybe it has been a good year.
I’ve done work in the past with the lower headset area. The correction to the Fighting Falcon and the PlusTwentyFive parts for DH and Super D were cool. Those solved critical problems. I HAD to do those.
These new headset covers address different kinds of problems. Primarily, cost, aesthetics, and tuning. I’ve been using the Cane Creek Slamset cover on the top of my heads tubes for a bit now. They are extremely expensive as they are only sold with a fancy Hellbender bearing. But they are not fantastic covers. The 40-series covers are superior in every way but one; aesthetics. The Slamset looks so good with the headtubes that I do. That’s hard to ignore. The problem with these covers are that they are expensive for what they are, they lack any seals like the 40-series have, and they are very delicate.
Cane Creek BAA0725K, Cane Creek 40-Series IS41/42 Short Top Cover IS41-42/28.6/H9.0 Black
Cane Creek BAA2164K, Cane Creek Hellbender 70 Slam Upper Headset – IS41/28.6/H4.6, Black
It’s odd that Cane Creek lists the stack of the Slam as 4.6mm while I was measuring 5mm. The short 40-series cover stack is marketed as 9.0mm for the IS41 parts. Measuring the parts of the system in a precise way was the most difficult part of this job. Lousy and outdated frame fit specifications, varying end conditions of the split ring, and paint thickness means that much of this is based on faith alone. Still, once this first round of parts are in play, it will be more predictable in the future.
To get what I was looking for from the cover, I used a 5.3mm stack. This is just 0.3mm taller than the slam but helps me produce a part that feels far less flimsy. It also helps give space for a facet to be formed in a more opportune way.
I also wanted the shape to play well with both 1 3/8″ and 1 1/4″ headset spacers. Both are used in my fleet so with a small tapered spacer, everything looks slick with the smaller diameter spacers or stem binders.
I think that my new covers looks far better than the OEM part. I’m really glad that I went through and got these done. I’ll have some wedge shaped spacers done in the next lot to get the full look that I’m after.
In another video, I refer the the headset and spacer (as I’ve designed it) having an Aztec look. That started a debate among my wife and I about what Mesoamerican architecture style is the true reference here; Aztec, Mayan, or Inca. I’m still not sure. Maybe someone with a good idea can chime in on this.
