The Inner Workings of the Human Mind...

Here's a little story to be going on with ...

I am the Muddyfox Courier


 

The story begins , like all good stories , with a 32mm spanner ...

The last time I undid this nut , or to be precise , an identical one on another courier , I was filled with trepidation . What would I find under this nut ? What strange delights ?

See , back in 1987 we were waiting for our Muddyfox Couriers . Alan and I . We waited . And waited . And then waited some more . I had a full page flyer ad for the courier  , that I pawed over for some time . It's difficult to relate these days , but they were simpler times . Of all the different wild and exciting new features listed in the bike specification , one item in particular perplexed Alan and I .
It said , " Check out the MORI Permalock self adjusting headset ... "
SELF ?
ADJUSTING ?

What ? You adjust it yourself ? Right ?
As a kid gowing up , fettling BMXs on a daily basis , headsets were a source of constant jiggery pokery . A small variety of headset locknut devices were available , that kinda worked , but what with the tall handlebar leverage scenario , coupled with my penchant for front brake antics , they'd be forever coming loose. It's difficult to convey just how exciting a self adjusting headset was going to be . With the time I would save I could catch up on betamax recordings of Miami Vice . Well , if it worked . I was skeptical , to say the least .

It's funny how a simple thing can take you back in time . As I picked up the spanner tonight , I was transported back to that first time that I unscrewed the top nut on a Mori Permalock self adjusting headset , to reveal it's secret  .




It's quite elegant really , and super simple . The top nut ' locks down ' against the second one in a fairly standard manner , but where the second nut is usually the top bearing  race, here the race is seperate . It's tightened down to eliminate any play , then a coiled ' watchspring ' clicks into a recess , locating into the vertical slot in the threads, and the other end after winding tension in it , it locks into place. As it applies clockwise force to the screwed race , should any play occur , it should , in theory , take up the slack . It's a pretty passive system , and to be honest , I've never actually witnessed it in action , but I still think it's quite a cool thing .


  

Here , a pic of it with no tension wound in .

 

 

So , the obvious question is this . Why the hell am I typing this shit up at the wrong side of midnight on a schoolnight?

And why am I completely disassembling the Muddy Fox ?

 

Words and pictures to follow .

urgggh me 'ead .....