1-1/4" to 1-1/8" conical spacers...

BG2000

Does anyone know of a supplier of conical spacers that cover the top bearing in a 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" integrated headset ?

They essentially step down to 1-1/8" to accomodate standard tapered fork steerers. You can run without the spacer, and just use 1-1/8" spacers, or even no spacers at all, but the bearing would be slightly exposed.

The conical spacer provided on a Giant Trance X is quite tall - it obviously can't be flat as it's a reducer, but they do seem to be taller than they really need to be, so difficult to lower the front end.

mrmonkfinger

you've lost me there

nicklouse

Any LBS will have a few spare headset top covers in a bin somewhere.

Or buy a new headset online.

The Rookie

As Nick says, instead of conical, some headsets come with a flatish cover about 5mm thick, have one in front of me now, complete with an O-ring to steerer and a flat washer to the headset.

BG2000

This is a proprietory Giant design that incorporates a 1-1/4" top bearing and 1-1/2" lower bearing. The conical spacer is performing 2 roles: a bearing cover and the spacer between the stem and the bearing inner cone.

It's unlikely that an LBS will have any 1-1/4" headset top covers lying around.

Apparently it's OK to use a normal 1-1/8" spacer between the stem and top bearing/split ring, but the bearing will be slightly exposed. I could put a standard 1-1/8" top cover there, but again it wouldn't cover all the bearing.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has dealt with this type of headset before. Apparently it is a design that bothers some Trance X owners who are trying to lower the front end.

Dirtydog11

The conical spacer provided on a Giant Trance X is quite tall - it obviously can't be flat as it's a reducer, but they do seem to be taller than they really need to be, so difficult to lower the front end.

I think your making a mountain out of a molehill, just remove it and replace it with standard headset 1-1/8 spacer.

I had to remove one from a friends Trance when he fitted 140mm forks, the headset is still fine after 12 months, I don't know why your having an issue with it, bearings are sealed!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38378636@N04/7893939758/

BG2000

Thanks DirtyDog - I probably am worrying about nothing, I'm just worried it'll look completely wrong, or not work all together. So to clarify, when you sorted your mate's bike out you didn't fit the large conical spacer again, you just fitted a normal 1-1/8" spacer? I'm only questioning this as a number of Trance frames use a 1-1/8" to 1-1/2" headset, i.e. standard taper - I'm talking about the 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" taper that Giant use on Trance X1s and X0s.

BTW, I'm only just fit enough to ride over molehills, so in my case they are quite mountainous

BG2000

just looked at your photo DirtyDog - I'm not even sure that bike has a tapered headtube - it looks 1-1/8" all the way down - certainly at the top anyhow.

Not all Trance X frames have the same headtube, especially with the later models...

Dirtydog11

BG2000 wrote:

Thanks DirtyDog - I probably am worrying about nothing, I'm just worried it'll look completely wrong, or not work all together. So to clarify, when you sorted your mate's bike out you didn't fit the large conical spacer again, you just fitted a normal 1-1/8" spacer? I'm only questioning this as a number of Trance frames use a 1-1/8" to 1-1/2" headset, i.e. standard taper - I'm talking about the 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" taper that Giant use on Trance X1s and X0s.

BTW, I'm only just fit enough to ride over molehills, so in my case they are quite mountainous

That's correct, I just removed the conical spacer and replaced it with bog standard spacers, it's not like the conical spacer seals anything anyway .

Don't know about 1-1/4 - 1- 1/2 , I don't see how that'll come into it if the steerer is 1-1/8?

Try it and see it won't cost you anything!

Edit just read your last post, correct it's not tapered but the steerers don't begin to taper until they enter the headtube anyway.


Edit again, Looks like the above wont work as it does actually taper from 1-1/4, that's madness, you cant even fit a standard stem!

BG2000

Dirtydog11 wrote:

Don't know about 1-1/4 - 1- 1/2 , I don't see how that'll come into it if the steerer is 1-1/8?

Thanks for the reply again.

The steerer is always 1-1/8" at the top on all tapered forks, that's correct. But the difference with Giant is that on some of their higher-end Trance X (and road) frames, since about 2011 they build the frames with a 1-1/4" top bearing headset. This is the outer ID of the bearing, the inner ID is still 1-1/8". The key part is this conical spacer as it sits on the inner bearing cone, i.e. it has an ID of 1-1/8" but it flares out at the bottom to cover the entire 1-1/4" bearing. The problem with these conical spacers is that they're about 1 inch in stack height, so no good if you want to have the stem lower, or fit old forks with a shortish steerer. Unless it's OK to run without the conical spacer....hence my post here...

Dirtydog11

I have to admit to being slightly lost with this overdrive business all I can say with certainty is that on the the standard headtube there where no issues removing the conical spacer

The Rookie

Surly the relevant bit isn't the OD of the bearing (it's really 1/16th inch thick - I doubt it somehow( 1 1/4 minus 1 1/8 divided by 2) but the size it has to cover.

Would I be right in thinking that like most tapered setups the top bearing is a conventional 44mm semi integrated?

BG2000

The Beginner wrote:

Would I be right in thinking that like most tapered setups the top bearing is a conventional 44mm semi integrated?

Most are, but not Giant's Overdrive 2 headset. It's damn confusing to be honest. It's bad enough having standard, tapered of 1.5" fork steerers, let alone variants in headsets.

My concern was mainly about covering the 1-1/4" bearing, i.e. aesthetics. It does sound like I'm worrying about nothing - but I just like my bike to look correctly assembled, without the metal outer race of a bearing sticking out of the edge of my headset top cover.

supersonic

Overdrive 2 uses a 1 and 1/4 inch steerer at the top. You need spacers to match this.

dv69

BG2000 wrote:

My concern was mainly about covering the 1-1/4" bearing, i.e. aesthetics. It does sound like I'm worrying about nothing - but I just like my bike to look correctly assembled, without the metal outer race of a bearing sticking out of the edge of my headset top cover.

As Supersonic suggests, 1 1/4" spacers should cover the bearing. They don't seem to be very common, even Giant's own shops only have the Overdrive 2 headset for road bikes. You could try calling them and see if they can supply the cap by itself:
http://www.giant-york.co.uk/gear.php?ma ... &product=7

Otherwise try 1 1/4" spacers, although I've only found two. The first are Chris King:
http://chrisking.com/parts/spacers

and these carbon fibre ones on ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GIANT-1-1 ... 1199287409

These appear to be the same as the ones on this Giant website which I found by searching for "OD2 spacers":
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/fi-fi/gea ... 098/51064/

You may find others by searching for various combinations of 1-1/4", 1 1/4", Overdrive 2, or OD2