Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Chris King Headset

Buttery smooth and worth every penny. I couldn't believe how nice the change was.

indeed... CK for all!

All headsets are 'buttery smooth' when new. Best bet for a headset I say is get a $10 ritchey and assemble it with a 1" section of innertube around the lower portion to keep out the elements. I like Cane Creek to.

Piss on overpriced parts.

On the same line, regarding hubs:
Maxi-Car > Phill Wood, CK, campagnolo....

maxi-car? never heard of them... more info?

All headsets are 'buttery smooth' when new.


right. and chris king headsets are buttery smooth 6 years later when
any other headset is indexed or grinding or loose.


there is only 1 item on a bike worth the money and that is a king headset


period.

Truly...the years and miles have proven that out for me and mine.

right. and chris king headsets are buttery smooth 6 years later when
any other headset is indexed or grinding or loose.

there is only 1 item on a bike worth the money and that is a king headset

period.

while i respect that CK headsets may be fantastic parts, the headset is the least important bearing assembly on a bike. i sure as hell am not going to buy a headset that costs almost half of what my frame did. maybe worth the money to you; definitely not to me. i'd rather just periodically overhaul my $10 ritchey logic.

People are still arguing over this?

didnt CK get bought by someone and I do believe they are made over seas now. **** that...

no matter how good they are, I can't see myself paying that kind of money for the privilege of being a rolling advertisement.

Don't you have one on your Vanilla?

:rolleyes: check sig, i have no such thing. i wish.

and a :rolleyes: to the idea that they're made overseas, why would someone make an assertion like that when it is easily verifiable that they're made domestically?

:rolleyes: check sig, i have no such thing. i wish.

and a :rolleyes: to the idea that they're made overseas, why would someone make an assertion like that when it is easily verifiable that they're made domestically?


please verify this for me...

its on their front page.. but that doesnt always mean anything

My mistake, i thought this was yours: fixedgeargallery.com/2006/mar/ZachCanfield.htm

King is in Portland, and never believe anything kyle tells you. http://chrisking.com/asiamfg/index.html

well there is this:
http://www.chrisking.com/asiamfg/index.html

this:
http://www.chrisking.com/company/comp_index.html

and it says it on the red hub here:
http://www.chrisking.com/hubs/hbs_index.html

[edit] cause I am slow, sorry

My mistake, i thought this was yours: fixedgeargallery.com/2006/mar/ZachCanfield.htm

King is in Portland, and never believe anything kyle tells you. http://chrisking.com/asiamfg/index.html

that's my bike.

and i swapped out the ck headset for a nice huffy headset.

huffy!!!!!

woah and all this time i thought you two were the same person. mind = blown.

maxi-car? never heard of them... more info?

http://www.ebykr.com/?p=46

Less on the technical and more on the entertainment side of things... but a good read none the less. Some of the Maxi-car hubs had a suposed service interval of 300,000 miles.

Look up the frame builder René Herse and you will find out about 15-16 pound aluminum bicycles made in the 1930's that surpass [in my opinion] most of today's rigs. This is all slightly off topic... but point being:

The 'best' on a internet forum isn't necesaraly the best.. its just popular opinion.

I really want to get a Chris King before next winter. Until then I'll be rocking the like new Campy Record that I scored on EBay for $30.

didnt CK get bought by someone and I do believe they are made over seas now. **** that...

perhaps you're thinking of the CHinese-made bootleg king headsets that have been turning up on ebay

Funny...I did have a Ritchey Logic on there before. It's always been complete crap. That headset was a waste of money. The way the King is now, it's worth every penny. If it's longevity is as good as purported, it will continue to be worth every penny.
No regrets here about my purchase.

I really hope they still are making their headsets here because I love their headsets. I even like that they say KING all around them. I have never had a problem with the two nut, but not really a fan of the grip nut. But when you need somethin with a short stack height, thats all you can roll with.

To those who think a decent headset isn't a good investment, check the tracking on a bike with a brinelled headset. Natch.

Truly...the years and miles have proven that out for me and mine.

Very true. I was lucky enough to buy the three king components I have from a friend wwho was broke at the time one headset and two ss hubs, that was four years ago no problems yet with the hubs or the headset yet .... I wish I could say the same for all the bikes they have kept spinning smoothly.
Worth the 200 dollars?? I would buy them again right now no question.

sure you can feel the difference between a used King headset and a "****ty" Cane Creek set with the bike in a stand moving the fork, but when you're actually on the bike it's 99% bling.

sure you can feel the difference between a used King headset and a "****ty" Cane Creek set with the bike in a stand moving the fork, but when you're actually on the bike it's 99% bling.

if you feel that way.. why are you even here?

ok but when do you go from 'piss on overpriced parts' to 'maxi-car' and 'rene herse' ???
last time i checked, these were far from cheap options

also, what are the service intervals like on chris king headsets ?
what of their 10 year guarantees ?

what i mean to say is; you seem to appreciate the need to pay more for parts made with high quality standards, yet, in your mind, chris king doesn't fit into this model ?

in fact, i would go so far as to say that it seems to me like chris king's design ideals are very much in line with maxi-car's




http://www.ebykr.com/?p=46

Less on the technical and more on the entertainment side of things... but a good read none the less. Some of the Maxi-car hubs had a suposed service interval of 300,000 miles.

Look up the frame builder René Herse and you will find out about 15-16 pound aluminum bicycles made in the 1930's that surpass [in my opinion] most of today's rigs. This is all slightly off topic... but point being:

The 'best' on a internet forum isn't necesaraly the best.. its just popular opinion.

Good stuff comes from King. Coffee, clothing, and bicycle components/tools.

I like the piece of mind I have with the chris king salt & pepper shakers.
You can buy them and just forget about them, very little maintenance.
You just know that when you grab them, salt and/or pepper is at your disposal without issue.

So the maxi-car's which just your regular design cup and ball hubs? How the heck did they have these ridiculous service intervals then? I read something about labrynth seals on that link, but was left rather unenlightened, so.... enlighten me!

it's hard to find good information.. but some maxi-car's were very early sealed bearing hubs..
the hubsets were very well designed for longevity and practicality in a touring environment...
i believe the fronts used the same bearing size and maybe axle diameter as the rears.. i think the spoke lengths for the entire hubset were the same, i think the rear hub built a dishless wheel.. the spoke holes in the drive flange were slotted so you could r&r spokes without removing the freewheel...

just a very simple yet well thought out design that seems to me very much in line with designs from the small american manufacturers like:
phil wood
chris king
paul components
level components


So the maxi-car's which just your regular design cup and ball hubs? How the heck did they have these ridiculous service intervals then? I read something about labrynth seals on that link, but was left rather unenlightened, so.... enlighten me!

I've got a six year old King HS on my hardtail mtb. It's been in four frames in that time.
With the riding that bike sees, the headset takes way more abuse on that bike than (generalization here...) any road bike headset is going to see.

I have yet to have to service anything on it. The only thing I've done to it was to clean it during the aforementioned frame swaps.

Based on that experience, one of my roadies has one as well. The other two bikes have Cane Creek Solos HS, which seem to be on par with the the Kings so far, for about $40 less.

Is King owrth it? Maybe. I'll probably go for another Cane Creek next time, so long as this current one holds up.

i got another king for 70 bucks off of someone who decided not to use it in a build a few weeks ago and just pressed it into my commuting bike last night. it's solid. i need to revise my spacer scheme on that bike though since the bearing cap is so much taller than the one on my previous headset.

and like afterthisnap has said, no magical pixie dust was necessary to install it.

i smashed out the old set with a park tool i had. i pressed in the king cups with threaded rod, washers and nuts. i banged off my old crown race with a mallet and chisel. i put the king race on the steerer, inverted the old race and dropped that on top of the new one, took a piece of steel pipe, stood it on the floor, dropped the steerer into it and smashed it down a few times. seems pretty good. there's a wee bit of space between the bearing cap and top cup, but there's no play in the steering, so i figure it'll settle with a couple of days of riding.