Bike Pirates

A few days ago I picked up a new headset from Craigslist, I knew the one on my usual ride was shot and would have to be replaced soon. Turns out Assbike labs is equipped for pretty much every repair except headset replacement.

So I dropped by Bike Pirates on Bathurst just South of College (near Sneaks in fact).

Bike Pirates is a Co-op and anyone can drop in there and work on their bike. They have the tools, space and work stands. It's a good place to work on your bike even if you have the tools, because there is a lot of room and there are always people who can give you a hand. Whenever you go there's always a few people working on beaters.

It turns out they didn't have any special headset tools either, so I made do. I had a couple nice guys Nick and Asher help me out. Nick held my fork as I hammered out the fork crown race with a screwdriver.

Asher showed me how to hammer out the frame cups by inserting a copper pipe into the head tube. I came up with a clever way to do this, since this job is a bit harder because of the way the inside of the Cannondale's headtube is designed. I will try to provide a diagram of the tool I made for this job. I just used a mallet and a block of wood to install the new headset.

For the help I gave Nick some spare parts, and he even took my worn out headset. The attitude reminded me of India, where people try to get every possible use out of everything and don't throw anything out.

Bike Pirates is supposedly open Sat and Mon 12-5.