Has anyone used/brought one of the cheap headset press’s that you see on e-bay?

Just brought myself a new frame, and am building my first mtb from scratch, don’t
really want to go to the expense of a park tool for just one frame, and as I didn’t
get the frame from my LBS, feel a bit bad asking them, that and the fact it would
probably cost me three-four times as much as the cheap press.

Saying that, it’s a nice frame and I’m going to put a Hope headset in, so don’t want
to damage either of them.

Any advice much appreciated.

The Unior one is pretty good, use it as a secondary/spare one at work. Otherwise, tried a long threaded rod with nuts and washers?

Cyclus

I use a big bolt, nut and washers. Make sure it starts straight though, or it’ll get messy.

If the headset’s worth a few pound, and your not confident about bodging it, it’d be worth paying someone to do it right.

Dot Bike are doing some cheap in their closing down sale

I paid a fiver or less for mine off eBay,as long as you make sure it’s straight while you press it it will be fine.

Same as paladin, if you live in the north west your welcome to whizz round here and use mine, probably best as a two person job without the proper press anyway!

I own a headset press. But I don’t use it, because this works better:

Thanks for all the good advice. 🙂

Philipft, thanks for the kind offer, but living in Suffolk I’m about as far away from the Northwest as possible.

Tried an Ebay press and if your headset fit is tight it will not be fun.
Found a soft mallet to work better and quicker.

Threaded bar, few washer, couple of bolts. I made two for a under a tenner

Get yourself a bench vice.

I’ve done a couple of 1000 miles on this bike now and surprisingly it’s fine. Haven’t touched the headset since it was installed 😯

I used an ebay one – it’s fine:

That’s the one I’ve got Ben h,works a treat eh ?