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The Attic -
Attic What IZIT
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 #35
 Happy 4th of July. This one should be much easier. The key will be the manufacturer and how the topnut works. The winning answer will include the Make, Model and Functionality of the item. If more than one person gets that correct the tie will go to creativity. Personal experience is a big plus. A winner has been crowned.
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A Patriotic edition of the What IZIT for the 4th of July. It seems like a new dynasty may be starting as Telford has rolled off 3 wins in a row. Someone needs to dethrone him soon.
WINNER - Telford Crisco: "Ok - had to wait until the 4th of July to send this one in. Only seemed appropriate, since this week's What IZIT comes from our friends at American Classic circa 1996. That's the American Classic Trilock sealed bearing headset. The Trilock was a pre-threadless style headset designed for threaded forks. They were available to fit both 1-inch and 1-1/8 inch threaded steer tubes and came in black or silver anodized and also several colors. If you're just coming on board - before nice smooth threadless steer tubes, there were these things called threads - back when the country was still fighting for independence and purple annodized Ringle stems. Some manufacturers (eg Campy) produced the goods and the threaded headset worked flawlessly. Others seemed to have trouble getting it right and the locknut would back off and come lose. So, it seems that once again a bunch of those wacky unemployed aerospace engineers from Simi valley (or in this case Ohio) were busy looking for novel ways to solve the problem of the loose headset. Enter American Classic. To solve the loose headset problem, the Trilock basically uses two pieces which are threaded onto the steer tube, and then bolted to each other with the three cap screws. One piece acts as a cone for the bearing and the other locks to it. With the cups installed, the cone piece is threaded onto the steer tube and mates with the upper bearing. The locking part is then threaded onto the steer tube and tightened. The little cap screws are inserted in the three threaded holes in the upper piece and tightened against the lower cone. The screws contact the cone part of the assembly and lock everything together. Once you had everything tightened up, you installed your quill stem (no not quill pen) and went riding. Like an original Betsy Ross flag, the Trilock soon became obsolete when the industry embraced the threadless style headset and the Trilock became a part of history. Happy 4th of July - hope you have an American "classic" day."
RUNNER UP - John Rad: "Let's try to make this short(ish) ans sweet. American Classic Trilock Headset. American classic was known for there headsets, seatposts (I had one of these 350x27.2 Silver), Water bottle cages (For a while I only used these) and hubs. The headsets had a proprietary locking mechanism with three allen keys. Kind of like the pre-cursor to the threadless headsets. I know it came in a 1" in silver or black. American Classic was and is known for there quality compents, light weight and reliable. Now they even make trick wheel set with rims made out of Magnesium (please keep away from flames).... (No Bike-pro used here)."
HONORABLE MENTION - Peter Hanchak: "It's an American Classic Tri Lock Headset. The Tri-lock headset features lightweight and smooth cartridge bearings, held in machined 7075-T6 aluminum cups by our patented locking mechanism. This design makes the headset lighter, easier to adjust, and more secure than standard designs. Adjustment is with a hex or allen key only - no more wrenches! Lubrication is easy, thanks to the grease injection system (1" sizes only). Lighweight at 98 grams for the 1" size, the headset is durable, and features sealed cartridge, aircraft grade bearings. Our patented locking mechanism uses three tiny cap screws which run down from the top locknut. The headset is first adjusted by hand, and then locked into place by tightening the three cap screws with a 2.5mm hex key. The three screws are arranged co-axial to the steering axis. This patented clamping system pulls the cone nut in the same direction as the bearing load, which makes the headset easy to adjust and stay in adjustment. The threadless version uses a shallow angle compression washer, and the same three screws as in the threaded model to securely lock the headset. Stack heights range from 33mm to 36mm. Designed by Bill Shook, manufactured in the USA. Patent #5,385,360."
HONORABLE MENTION - Christian Seeley: "This is a American Classic Trilock Headset. They are/were available in 1" and 1 1/8" and in threaded and threadless with the 1" model having a grease injection port to lube that puppy up. I say are/were available because according to American Classic, they still have some of these available, but "when they're gone, they're gone!" To adjust this headset, you tighten the top down by hand and when you get your headset to the desired adjustment, you use a 2.5mm hex key to tighten the three tiny hex bolts from the top of the headset, thus locking the adjustment into place."
HONORABLE MENTION - Brok Adams: "This is an American Classic Tri-Lock headset. The 3 screws kept the locknut from backing off (as they so often did on regular headsets of the day...at least on my BMX and early mtb bikes.) I thought I remember someone else making them too...perhaps Ringle...but I could be mistaken"
HONORABLE MENTION - Troy: "I know I am probably wrong, but I think I have a good idea. Is it an early version of the American Classic Tri-Lock or Air-Lock headset? I think the locking mechanism on this one must work like this: Set the tension with the lower ring, screw the upper ring down until it makes contact with the lower, back it off until the three screw holes line up, install and tighten the three screws, thus locking the assembly in place. Good guess?"
HONORABLE MENTION - Bill: "American Classic! The goal was to keep the headset from loosening. I had a couple of the competing products, Gorilla, and one I forget the brand but I still have it -- it had a washer with a key to fit the groove in the fork and a spline-like serration on the outside and then a setscrew in the locknut to engage the serration."
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