Santa Cruz Owners: headset + BB facing

For anybody that has an SC - how parallel are the headset and BB interfaces? Just want to know
whether I should go through the trouble of facing them, or if they should be fine without it. I
could measure it, but I don't have anything terribly accurate here, and little imperfections that
would screw up bearings might be missed.

Thanks!

Jon Bond

 

Jon Bond <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> For anybody that has an SC - how parallel are the headset and BB
interfaces?
> Just want to know whether I should go through the trouble of facing them,
or
> if they should be fine without it. I could measure it, but I don't have anything terribly accurate
> here, and little imperfections that would screw up bearings might be missed.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jon Bond
>
depends on the headset really, but I have had to face the bb and headtube on SC bikes before if only
to remove excess paint do the disc mounts also.

 

"Jon Bond" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> For anybody that has an SC - how parallel are the headset and BB interfaces? Just want to know
> whether I should go through the trouble of facing them, or if they should be fine without it. I
> could measure it, but I don't have anything terribly accurate here, and little imperfections that
> would screw up bearings might be missed.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jon Bond

It is almost always worth the time and effort to mill a (reasonable quality) frame.

In general (don't you love statements that start out that way) always have the headtube milled. If
for no other reason than to remove the paint and make sure that the faces are parallel, this can
make a lot of difference in the life of your headset. A good headtube mill will also chamfer the
inside edge of the tube and help reduce the chance of galling when installing the headset cups.

The type of B.B. you are using will determine how much milling you need to have done on the B.B
shell. If you are using a B.B. that engages only on the threading e.g. Phil Wood, the chasing the
threads is all that is require. If you are using a Shimano B.B. that engages the threads and only
one side if the shell, then there is really no reason to mill both sides. A good B.B. mill set, like
campy, will be piloted on the threads, this assures that the faces are not just parallel to each
other, but also perpendicular to the threads.

BTW as I have pointed out before, the Ritchey Downhill squad used Santa Cruz Tasmans that were
specifically built (toothpaste welds and all) for and painted for Ritchey ... Even the "team issue"
frames were milled as part of set-up.

R