Scooterotica

When rested on the bars it fits well, but when tightened up with the two large screws the bar ends appear to lift up leaving a gap........ ....any thoughts.....

It'll be Indian then, your lucky that the holes line up enough to bolt it together. I've spent many happy hours with needle files and dremmels getting them to an acceptable state.

Hey Tim, welcome to Martins' world. A world where Martins spend hours sourcing headlight rims, headset tops and headset bottoms, and then spend many more hours making the bloody things fit.

Arrrgh!

Martin

Any sensible ideas to get it to fit........

Timbo wrote:When rested on the bars it fits well, but when tightened up with the two large screws the bar ends appear to lift up leaving a gap........ ....any thoughts.....

I wonder if the two threaded stubs on the underside of the headset top need to be longer, so they sit tight onto the headset bottom?

Are the top being over-tightened, causing it to bow?

The big screws go into a raised lug in the headset top, which is pulled down towards the hole in the lower headset as you tighten the big screws. Try slipping a couple of washers between the top and the bottom (over the screw) so that the top can't be "over-pulled" toward the lower headset. You might need to adjust the number of washers you insert until it sits right, and if it works, you can glue the wshers in place so you don't have to repeat this exercise everytime you screw the headset on.

late indian ones do turn up at the ends anyway

Knowledge wrote:Are the top being over-tightened, causing it to bow?

The big screws go into a raised lug in the headset top, which is pulled down towards the hole in the lower headset as you tighten the big screws. Try slipping a couple of washers between the top and the bottom (over the screw) so that the top can't be "over-pulled" toward the lower headset. You might need to adjust the number of washers you insert until it sits right, and if it works, you can glue the wshers in place so you don't have to repeat this exercise everytime you screw the headset on.

I think your right......the Indian lugs are slightly longer than the Italian ones (I've just measured them).would a solution also be to cut the lugs, or is that asking for trouble bearing in mind my capabilitys...... ........i do have a dremel....

Timbo wrote:Any sensible ideas to get it to fit........

Problem is the 2 lugs that the screws go into are rarely in line so that when you tighten them it pulls them out of line and the two halves don't sit together correctly. Look at 99 out of 100 of the restored Indian imports around at the moment. As previously stated you need to literally spend hours filing away at the high spots where the 2 halves touch until you get a decent fit. Dunno why the Indians can't get this right, they've had 37 years to get it right, the Viets got it right first time.

I sorted mine out with an oxy set, headlight rim(s),fasteners and some clamps. Heat,squeeze and swear... job done