Paul, I ran mine that way for a couple of years. I always thought something was not right as my light's jiggled at nigh a bit more than I thought they should. I looked around and didn't see anything wrong. One day I'm out with a friend and rode between Lk Cavanaugh and Oso then out to Darrington then taking the Mountain Loop to Granite Falls. About half way to GF the nose flopped forward and I'm grabbing it and trying to stop all in the gravel! I'm kinda leaning towards the idea that it held together for the AK trip and broke later that summer. My younger friend George might remember?
It's not to bad to replace just nuts and bolts, pay attention to how the wire's are ran, I had to back track a little to put it in it's correct place once.
Must be a used bike thing as my 14's tools were missing also.