Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Glossary Ha-Hi

For an explanation of this design, see my wheelbuilding article.

With half-step gearing, the larger shifts are made with the rear derailer, and the front is for fine tuning. This allows an 8- or 10-speed set up to have a reasonable range with fairly close spacing of the gears. One downside of half-step is that it uses all possible combinations, including those that run the chain at a fairly severe angle. This is not a big deal in an 8-speed rig, but is kind of marginal for 10-speeds. Another serious disadvantage is that every other shift in the normal sequence is a double shift (front and rear derailers simultaneously).

Half-step gearing is most suitable for riding in flat terrain, where shifting is rare. For bicycles with few speeds, it does allow finer gradations to get as close to the "ideal" gear for the particular wind conditions as possible.

Modern shift patterns use larger jumps on the chainwheels to select general ranges of gears, and fairly closely-spaced 7-or-more-speed clusters for the fine tuning. This greatly simplifies the shifting pattern, allowing constant adjustment to different grades in rolling terrain, with only occasional need for double shift.

See my Article on Gear Theory .

Conventional handlebars are divided broadly into two styles: "drop" and "upright"

See also Hands Up! Adjusting Handlebar Height

Sometimes incorrectly referred to as "handlebar ribbon." This mistake results from a translation error. (in French and Italian, there is no distinction between "ribbon" and "tape.")

This is a very complicated technology, with very ancient roots. For many applications, such as sprockets and bearings you want a very hard surface to the part, but the inside of the part should be treated to a lesser hardness so as to avoid excessive brittleness and breakage.

A conventional threaded headset consists of four races plus associated parts:

1. The crown race, which is pressed on to the bottom of the steerer, just above the crown.
2. The lower head race is pressed into the bottom of the head tube.
3. The upper head race is pressed into the top of the head tube.
4. The adjustable race attaches to the steerer.

   The adjustable race is secured by either a:

   • Keyed washer and lock nut, for Threaded headsets or a:
   • Star fangled nut and cap, or compression rings in the case of some threadless headsets.

Threaded vs Threadless

Threaded Headset Note wrench flats on locknut and top threaded race.	Threadless Headset Note pinch bolts on stem.

• Traditional threaded headsets fit forks with threaded steerers. The adjustable race screws on to the steerer, and a locknut screws on after the adjustable race to secure it. There is normally a keyed washer between the adjustable race and the locknut for extra security.

• Threadless headsets have an adjustable race that slips over an un-threaded steerer. There are three distinct types of threadless headsets which adjust differently:
  • "Aheadset" style threadless headsets, the most common type, require a threaded fastener, such as a Star Fangled Nut to be installed inside the steerer.

    This type of headset must be used with a special handlebar stem that clamps on to the outside of the steerer, either with one or more pinch bolts (a.k.a. binder bolts), or other means. The stem is further secured by a plastic or metal cap which is bolted to the star nut.

    To adjust an "Aheadset"-type headset, the stem binder must be loosened, then the bolt that runs through the cap to the starnut is tightened, usually with a 5 mm Allen wrench. This presses the stem down against the tapered bushing that fits inside the adjustable cup. and takes up the slack in the system. The stem is then aligned with the front wheel and tightened with its binder bolts. (Once the stem binder bolts have been tightened, the adjusting bolt that goes to the star nut is under no significant stress, and may even be removed.)

  • "Diatech" threadsets from Dia Compe use a special pair of collars, usually mounted just below the stem and above the top race. The lower collar has a beveled, conical top surface, which fits inside of a matching bevel on the inner circumference of the upper collar.

    The upper collar has a gap at one point, with a pinch bolt to squeeze the gap together. (This upper collar may also include a cable stop for the front brake, if the bicycle has a rigid fork and conventional cantilever brakes.)

    The handlebar stem is clamped tightly to the steerer, preventing the upper collar from moving upward. As the upper collar is compressed by the binder bolt it squeezes lower collar downward, taking up any slack in the headset bearings.

  • The YST "GeForce" headset has a collar which slips over the steerer, and is clamped to it with a binder bolt near the top of the collar. The outside of this collar is threaded, and the upper bearing race screws onto these threads. The upper race assembly is fitted with a binder bolt that clamps it tight onto these threads when the desired adjustment has been attained.

    The Ge Force is the only threadless headset which doesn't use the handlebar stem as part of the adjustment. These headsets may be used with any stem, either external clamping or internal expander/wedge type.

Headset sizing

If you want to replace one headset with another, you must take into account the stack height of the new headset.

See also my article on Headsets

See also Hands Up! Adjusting Handlebar Height

Both hub flanges were 1mm farther to the left than those of a normal hub, causing increased dish in the rear wheel, and persistent spoke breaage problems. Many loyal Helicomatic fans tout the ease with which the cassette may be removed for spoke replacement as a great virtue, but if the hub were better designed, it wouldn't break so many spokes!

These hubs were prone to bearing problems as well. Due to clearance requirements, they couldn't fit the normal 9 1/4" bearing balls, so they used 13 5/32 balls on the right side. These didn't hold up well. The cones tended to wear rapidly, and replacement cones are no longer available to fit these hubs.

Hellenic stays were introduced by (and named for) the British frame builder Fred Hellens in 1923, and have been used off-and-on since by frame builders who wish to make their frames visually distinctive. It is of no practical value, and often causes un-necessary complication to brake cable routing, luggage rack attachment and installation of frame pumps. It is also slightly heavier than normal frame construction.

Recent users of this design include GT, Huffy and Nashbar.

He also did a lot of pioneering work on suspension designs for bicycles, and deveoped a bicycle seat that was based on an upside-down dropped handlebar with furniture webbing wrapped between the two straight sections.

He was also known for roller demonstrations where he would perform a strip-tease while riding on the rollers. A very cool guy.

High gears are for going fast, when the terrain permits. The rider must push much harder on the pedals in a high gear, so high gears are not suitable for lower-speed riding, due to the great strain that hard, slow pedaling puts on the joints.

Before the use of chain drive, bicycles had direct drive. The cranks were directly attached to the hub of the drive wheel. The larger the wheel, the farther the bicycle would move with each turn of the pedals. The diameter of the drive wheel determined the gear of the bicycle. The larger the wheel, the higher the gear.

With a chain-driven "safety" bicycle, you can have any gear you want by selecting appropriate sprockets. With a high-wheel bicycle, the limiting factor is how long your legs are, because you can only pedal a wheel that is small enough for your legs to straddle and reach the pedals throughout the pedal revolution.

The safety bike was first introduced on a commercial scale in 1885, and by 1893 high-wheelers were out of production.