[Minor rant]
Just been to three of my local bike shops to try to get my new frame faced and chased, before I start building it up. None of them have an 1 1/8" facing tool any more. What's that all about? Do all shops not bother preparing head tubes any more?
[/minor rant]
Did they ever ?
it will be ok
We don't have one where I work either.
Have access via the other shop if we needed it but rarely get asked these days.
Did they ever ?
Yeah, all three used to have them.
it will be ok
I know it will be OK, just seems strange. We always faced new frames when I worked in one of the shops I tried. That was nearly 20 years ago I suppose.
People still ride bikes with 1 1/8 th head tubes.....how very twee.
We don't have one,neither did the last 2.First one did but that was 15 years ago.
It must be me being an old fart then!
Same here but i never bother to face them :O)
Bodgers. 😉
Most head faces are 'usually' pretty square from build and headsets have a tapered bearing to take any slight discrepancies. Never needed one yet.
Pfft, amateurs 😉
I've got one, use it on every frame I build up.
Maybe the other (online?) shop you bought the frame from should have faced it?
Maybe the other (online?) shop you bought the frame from should have faced it?
I got it for a steal on ebay, from the distributor. Doubt they have the tools to do it either.
We have one gathering dust at work only gets used now and then
Partly many frames no longer have traditional head tubes and also don't do many custom builds anymore
we have facing tools for most headset, bottom bracket and disc standards which frequently get used (especially threaded bb's)
why wouldn't you want to use them on a new frame (or old for that matter) if you were building it up?
Its a fairly common misconception that the headtube/bb alignment of frames are acceptable out of the factory, we see some real shockers!
The taper on headset bearings isn't there to take up headtube discrepancies, merely to centre the bearing and allow the user to remove play.
Can't need stand why they'd get rid of a tool they have already paid for even if it only gets occasional use.
I don't think they've got rid of them, they just haven't replaced the cutters when they've become blunt or lost.
Get a digital caliper from Lidl (only £8.95)this week and measure how parallel the faces are. A very useful tool that should pay for itself in saved journeys to LBS 😉