There may be some brinelling going on in your life, right now, as we speak. It’s just that you weren’t sure what to call it. I didn’t know what to call it until I heard Ron Sutphin talk about it at UBI. Now it’s a word I try to use at least once a year. Brinelling often occurs in old beatdown bicycle headsets. It gets progressively worse until the headset feels as if it’s indexed. While indexing is desirable in downtube shifters, it’s usually not a feature to be proud of in your headset bearings. However, when riding no-handed on a 30 year old grocery getter, it’s comforting to have the handlebars return “home” like a lost dog. Which is ok on a bike a that travels only a few miles each week and gets only air in the tires and an occasional drop of chain lube. If you want to prolong the life of your brinelled headset with a no-cost desert-island repair, don‘t take it to the Velo Store. Remove the crown race, rotate it 90 degrees and re-install it. The pitted surfaces will be out of the normal range of motion and the headset will feel smooth enough to get groceries for 30 more years.
we all dream of moving to PDX but I didn't do this cartoon I saw it on UrbanVelo. Embrocate is a word I don't even use once a year, but we can talk about embrocating later, after you smear smelly Vaseline on your knees. I don't dream of moving to Chicago but I wish you luck Jace. word
