Dawes headset

[graham bowers]

I've picked up a loose folding Dawes Kingpin frame and forks. It came with a few other bits - crank, mudguards, stem, bars. I'm intending / hoping to rescue it in some manner.

Unfortunately it does have a crack in the head tube but I think its fixable with a stopper hole and suitable reinforcement.

The thing I'm hoping to learn more about here is the design of the headtube and headset. The headtube is flared at the top and the bottom, with the flare being more pronounced at the bottom. The flare in the headtube appears to mirror the curved cross section of the headset bearing cup holders. When I say bearing cup holders, I mean the bearings run in a separate ring that its self sits in the bit that interfaces with the frame. I hope that description, alongside the photos, makes some sense.

I'm no expert, but headsets I've seen before have been squared off and have fitted in to similarly squared off head tubes. When I saw the flaring on my KP frame I initially thought it was whacked out of shape, but it looks too regular to be damage.

So, the question. Is a flared headtube / headset cup holder and separate bearing ring something that may be expected of a mid 1960's to min 1970's shopper type bike please?

 

[midlife]

I always thought that they had standard headset which fitted into a standard head tube...

 

[graham bowers]

I always thought that they had standard headset which fitted into a standard head tube...

Me too..........In what way would you say my pics are standard / non standard please?

 

[raleighnut]

It almost looks like someone has stuck the headtube/bottom cup in a big press and squeezed them too far together (leading to the crack where the tube has 'flared') could have been a deliberate 'bodge' though.

 

[graham bowers]

I see your point raleighnut. I've never seen that flaring before, but my experience of old stuff is very very limited. I suppose if nobody pops up and says the flare was part of the manufacturing process then a bodge being the answer seems more likely. The flare is very regular.

 

[raleighnut]

I see your point raleighnut. I've never seen that flaring before, but my experience of old stuff is very very limited. I suppose if nobody pops up and says the flare was part of the manufacturing process then a bodge being the answer seems more likely. The flare is very regular.

Yep, could be either but I've never seen it before.

 

[midlife]

The bike shop I worked in sold both the Kingpin and the Stowaways BITD and as previously mentioned the head sets were of a standard design with straight head tubes.

We used to get older bikes in for repair where the head tubes were flared to accept a race but the metal in the flare was substantial.

 

[raleighnut]

There is one scenario where I could see an engineers 'bodge' like this being a no cost solution, say you'd stripped the threads on a fork steerer it's conceivable that a 'tightarse' engineer/mechanic would come up with the idea of using the workshop press to gain a quarter inch by forcing the hardened bottom cup up into the headtube like that then cutting off the top of the steerer to use the untouched thread instead of buying a new fork. BTW I've worked with blokes who'd be that tight, one workshop manager was described as "He's so tight he squeaks when he walks" but that was probably his boots really.