[keeb]

I ordered a leftover V1 transam from transition about 3 weeks ago, and when it came, it was the wrong size. It took a few days, but I was finally able to convince them that it was indeed a medium frame, and not the small I ordered. Well, they were out of the orange, so I had to settle for a white frame. That's fine, I'm not that picky. Now 3 weeks after placing my initial order, I finally get the right size frame, only to find that on the machined 45 degree bearing surface in the head tube is a glob of what I'm guessing is the electro deposited coating. It is quite rough and "bubbly" and it has been machined along with the steel to form that 45 deg. angle for the headset bearing. There's also a chunk of paint missing right on the front of the head tube where it looks like it didn't stick to yet another glob of the ED coating. Not too happy about that either.

So, to make a long story longer, I've got two questions:
Has anybody else had the glob of stuff in the headset problem with their transam? If yes, did it affect the seating of the headset bearings at all?

There's no way the coating material is as hard as cromo steel, and I'm worried that the deposited material will wear (or worse, chip away) faster than the steel, and leave an uneven bearing surface for me to deal with.

Pictures forthcoming...

 

[scrublover]

I had little bits in mine, and the upper outer cup portion of the headtube had a dent - had to sand and tweak things a bit to get the upper bearing in nice and happy. No trouble at all.

Nah, I'd say don't sweat it. Sand it smooth, pop the bearings in and ride. The bearing outers aren't rotating in the frame, so it ought to be fine. I can't see any reason why it would cause trouble unless you smoothe off too much material.

Missing paint? Find some white auto body touch up paint and fix it up, and again, call it good and ride. If you're riding the bike as it is intended you'll be scratching and gouging it up anyhow...

 

[FlippinSweet]

when I first got my v1 TransAm I had the same thing.
The difference being, I picked mine up directly from Transition. At the time Carl looked it over pretty carefully and he's the one that noticed the blob of coating in the head tube. He ran what looked like a de-burring tool through it and all is well. When I asked about it he said it was pretty common with the first few runs and he tries to catch them all and face the headtube before it goes out. It has to do with the way they hang it in the paint booth. The glob is clearcoat or something that happens to pool up right at that area sometimes.

I guess my point is, your LBS should be able to run a tool in there for you for next to nothing (especially your Transition dealer if you have one in your area). I would not set your bearings in there until it gets fixed. Not for such an easy fix as it is, it's not worth the trouble you may have later on. If it looks like it can be easily sanded as scrublover suggests then do that.
I've never had any problems with mine...

 

[keeb]

Thanks for the input. I've gone ahead and built up the frame. Since the bearings seated fine, I went ahead and built up the bike. I'm going to machine a cylinder with a 45 degree chamfer on one end so I can stick some sandpaper to it and face the bearing surface ghetto style. I just want to make sure the bearings have a nice place to live since headset bearings do take a beating.

The bike feels really fun just playing around in the "back 40" and I can't wait to get it out on a proper trail. Just for the record...my overall experience with TBC has been good and they worked with me to sort out the frame issues, I just wish their QC had been a little tighter.