My little package

So about the other package I received last Friday...

I knew it was coming, and I knew it would mess with me. When I informed my contact at Cane Creek that my frame would be here soon, he said he would go out on the "floor" and get my headset together. He then told me that the new 110 headset has some new features, and then he started to tell me about them...

And then he had an idea.

"Why don't I just ship it to you disassembled so you can see what's new for yourself?"

Meh.

I was excited to open the box regardless of the state of assemblage (or lack thereof) of my new headset.

That definitely seemed like more parts than I would need to make one headset, and I had never seen some of these parts in any of my other 110's (aside from my personalized stainless steel 110).

Hmmm....

Here's where the joy of prototypical frames comes in.

Something looked odd. The headtube had been reamed out for a zerostack headset (44mm), and the depth looked precise. I cracked open a beer and got out my little ruler that came out of my dissection kit from a biology class at Youngstown State (hey, college wasn't pointless).

I measured the depth of the top ream... 10mm.

I measured the insertion of the top cup... 10mm.

I measured the depth of the bottom ream... 10mm.

I measured the special cup that allows you to run a 1.5 tapered fork in zerostack head tube...

12.something mm.

And then The Pie called me to dinner.

I sat there and thought and thought and thought. This was an issue. The frame had been reamed deep enough for a standard zero stack headset, but none of us (on the non-headset guy end) knew that the non zero stack lower cup had a slightly deeper insertion. Hmmmm...

I tried to insert the cup after dinner and it was a no-go. It would not go in all the way. I knew it would fail, but I was hoping that it was all a dream or an optical illusion.

I try to contact Eric at Cane Creek... on a Friday night.

I tried Peter... who was in Shanghai.

I called a mechanically oriented friend who told me not to do anything stupid.

I opened another beer.

I got out a piece of sandpaper and started to work on sanding off the unwanted portion of the lower cup. It had a decent taper on it, close to 3mm, and I felt as if I could live without most of it. I sanded and sanded and sanded and drank more beer. I tried the cup back in the frame, but I had not sanded enough off the cup.

Out of desperation I went into the storage closet and pulled out the small Ryobi orbital sander I bought when I refinished the hallway. I put on a rubber glove, got another beer, and went to town. After removing some more material I tried it in the frame again. No-go. Back to the sander, back to the frame, no-go once more.

I went to remove the headset, but this time proved to be more difficult. I discovered that as I was sanding off the portion of the headset that gives the headset removal tool its purchase. I got it out, but I realized I had one more shot to get it right, and then this headset was in for good.

I sanded some more... by hand. I measured, sanded, measured, sanded, measured, sanded, measured, and then went for it. It went in, and it's staying in. It's pretty much flush with the non reamed portion of the headtube, and it will remain a part of the frame forever.

I must admit, it was a dumb thing to do, and that you should not try this at home. I am sponsored by Cane Creek, and as long as I apologize profusely for bastardizing their top tier product I will probably be back in their good graces. Obviously I'll be sure to get the exact specs before we go making another prototype.

Those carbon top bearing covers? Not part of the new 110, but something off the 40 series headset. Eric trying to confuse me, or make my bike lighter, or trying to confuse me? Dunno. The split compression ring was much easier to install into the bearing cover, and the whole top portion of the headset was more sealed from the elements than previous versions.

The bottom cup had a convenient drop in bearing and a groove for an o-ring which held the bearing nicely in place while I put everything together. I'd bet the o-ring was designed to do more than that, and I would have got a picture, but at that point I was many beers into the project and running a little behind on the build. Since I was not familiar with the assembly of the headset and my brain was getting a little fuzzy, the procedure lasted a little longer than it should have. Don't worry, if you order a 110 it will come in a nice box already put together, and you shouldn't have to sand it with a Ryobi to get it into your frame.

The cool thing about the 110 headset? Although Cane Creek has a 110 year warranty on the thing already, they are still spending time to make it better. I'm stoked to see drop in bearings, since I'm not a big fan of the press fit. Press fit works, but serviceability is workier. It's nice to be able to replace them at the consumer level with ease if you have to.

Everything else on the build went smooth, and then I woke up the next day with a hangover and terribly dehydrated.

Victory.

ALL INFORMATION REGARDING THE NEW 110 THAT YOU READ HERE MAY BE CORRECTED AT A LATER DATE AFTER I GET A PHONE CALL FROM ERIC AT CANE CREEK CORRECTING MY ASSUMPTIONS AND WILD GUESSES.