Best 1" threaded headset?
 

Besides a Chris King - what is the best 1" threaded headset for me to install on my Falcon refurb?
It has a no name on it now, that came from the factory - is there a headset that is an upgrade, or are they all the same?

If you can get one: Stronglight A9 for best quality/price/looks, (have they really stopped making them?)

Are the races of headset on there in bad shape? Repacking it with good quality, loose bearings (as opposed to in a retainer ring) will pretty much bring it up to spec with any other good period correct headset.

almost all of them are 'good' to a point. I think anything name brand is just a matter of looks. I always like the look of a Campi but most people perfer the lower profile of a 105 or 600. a King would be nice because they come in colors don't they?

I find it hard to get emotionally worked up about headsets and a lot of other bike components. If it works well, then I forget about it. Designing a functional headset isn't hard, so pretty much every headset does its job perfectly. Most headsets outlast the bicycle.

A vote for Stronglight A9 needle bearing headsets too!
One cycling product that the French got completely right!

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85(?) Vitus Carbone 7 Plus

The Stronglight A9 is very nice, but hard to find these days. Failing that, a Tange "Levin" would be a readily available and high quality headset appropriate for that frame.

Yes, they are getting harder and harder to find, specially in NOS condition. And to think that they used the headset on thousands of Peugeots, Gitanes and Treks. I'm sure there's a hoard of them in some warehouse somewhere in the world that is still to be discovered. Would have still been very popular, but the new style headsets, pretty much killed them off. All headsets would have eventually have needle bearings like the A9, but it was a design that came too late
They might be available as replacement parts from Schwinn, as they did also use them on some of their bikes too. One's available at eBay for the longest time.

Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85(?) Vitus Carbone 7 Plus

This is about whatI expected (hoped?) to hear. I think I'll wait on the headset for now, and just go with loose balls when I put it back together.

1. Chris King
2. Shimano cartridge (any of them)
3. Any needle bearing like the Stronglight A9 or something similar

Mavic headsets were considered the 'best' before Chris King became popular. Even now a Mavic 1" headset isn't cheap. A good NOS Mavic 1" threaded headset will run you more than buying a new Chris King (and be worth it).

Avoid the Mavic headsets that required a special Mavic tool. If it looks like the headset has vertical 'stripes' move on (unless you're lucky enough to have the proprietary Mavic tool).

Campy Record threaded headsets sure are pretty, and they are surprisingly inexpensive compared to CK. Shimano Ultegra and Dura-Ace headsets are not as pretty but function well and last forever. Too bad Shimano has apparently quit making them. If not, they sure are hard to find.

Another great inexpensive threaded headset option is the Grand Cru sold at www.velo-orange.com. For $40, it's hard to beat. It is a worthy alternative to Shimano.

http://www.velo-orange.com/headsets.html

I agree that the VO Grand Cru is a good deal on a beautiful cartridge bearing headset. I love the split crown race!

Speaking of Velo-Orange, they have an A9 copy for $19! That's just a crazy price.

I don't know how you can call it an A-9 copy. It doesn't look like an A-9 and it doesn't have roller bearings.

Sadly, it seems so.


...the OP said "Chris King", as though it's a universal given that they're the best. :lol:

BTW, for you Strong A-9 fans, they are still available at some of the British on-line bike shops like Wiggle, Chain Reaction, Ribble, SJS, etc.

That's not a needle bearing design - which makes a difference with both weight and functionality. The V.O. sure does look nice, and the price is very low though.

Are they the "real deal" with the needle bearing design? I ordered two that were called A-9's from Europe. One was steel and had ball bearings - heavy as a brick. The second was some bizarre threadless thing. :(

I just bought two NOS Stronglight A9 roller bearing headsets from Ben's Cycle (one is going on my Super Sport project).

Unfortunately, they're sold out of silver ones, but still have black.

Yeah, it seems like unless you're paying exorbitant amounts on ebay, you're probably not going to find any of the needle bearing A9s. (Edit: see Scooper's post above: I stand corrected...I hope.)

I remember when VO had the originals a few years ago and thought about getting one, but didn't really know what I'd use it for...oh well. The demand has definitely spiked now that they're so hard to come by--funny how it works that way.

Here is the VO headset that is being mentioned. I have found it to be the smoothest headset I own. Like butter.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ivega006-1.jpg

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...cornBag008.jpg

Shin

You learned the hard way that an A9ST is not the same as an A-9. I tried to tell people that in an old thread, but some weren't convinced.

I bought my A-9s a couple of years ago when you could still get them from xxcycle.com for $28. I wish that I had bought more. I only have one left.

Ben's Cycle sells the replacement bearings and races for the A-9 for a great price. One headset requires two sets, but that's only 10 bucks.

Here's one of the A9 headsets I got from Ben's a month ago. It's got the needle bearings.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...t/CIMG5817.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...t/CIMG5818.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...t/CIMG5819.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...t/CIMG5820.jpg

I have a Stronglight 1" threaded tapered roller bearing headset (1st two photos), not sure of the precise model. I found it very hard to adjust it precisely to turn lightly without any for and aft fork play. I think the problem is that whereas ball bearings offer some adjustment compliance, cylindrical bearings do not. Also, I believe that precise facing of the frame head tube is critical with these headsets as compared to conventional ball bearings. My favorite old school headset is a Specialized (last photo), which is a copy of the Campy Nuovo Record, but also has o-ring seals.

Precise facing of the head tube is less critical with the roller bearing headsets because the races float. A roller bearing headset will feel too tight on the stand when it is adjusted correctly.

So how come roller bearing headsets are so rare!?

TejanoTrackie, your bikes are gorgeous.

Folks, what's NJS?

+1.

Here's what Jan Hein had to say about the A9 in a recent Bicycle Quarterly article:

Bicycle Quarterly, Volume 6, Number 3

Curing Shimmy on a Bike

by Jan Heine and Mark Vande Kamp

Some bikes shimmy, others don’t, even if they are made from the same tubes. Some believe that poor frame alignment is the cause for shimmy, but we have ridden modern custom frames from very reputable builders that shimmied, even though they appeared to be aligned very well. Yet many older frames with unknown histories do not shimmy, despite being obviously misaligned.

Looking at the variables involved, Jan noticed that he never had ridden a bike with a Stronglight needle-bearing headset that shimmied, yet similar bikes (from the same maker, with the same tubing and geometry) with ball bearing headsets often shimmied.

Stronglight headsets are different from all others in that the bearings align automatically, and thus compensate for imperfections in the facing of the head tube (emphasis mine - SC). On a standard headset, the balls on one side tend to run looser than those on the other, because the top and bottom edges of the head tube never are perfectly parallel. Furthermore, the needle bearings of the Stronglight headset may add a little resistance to the headset, perhaps enough to dampen shimmy, but not enough to change the steering characteristics of the bike.

To see whether a different headset could make a difference in shimmy behavior, we replaced the Chris King headset on Mark’s Ti Cycles, a bike with a very strong shimmy under certain conditions, with a Stronglight needle-bearing headset. Mark rode the bike to the workshop with a load in the handlebar bag, and it was easy to provoke shimmy.

After we replaced the headset, Mark tried to induce shimmy as he had before, but the bike no longer shimmied. After numerous attempts, he finally got the bike to shimmy briefly, but instead of continuing until Mark put his knee on the top tube, the shimmy now attenuated on its own within a few oscillations. We then loaded the handlebar bag with about 4 kg (8.8 lbs.). Still, the bike’s shimmy was gone in most speed ranges. Only when coasting downhill no hands at 40 km/h (25 mph), a violent shimmy occurred that was beyond the capacity of the headset’s dampening. Placing one hand on the handlebars immediately stopped the shimmy. Mark rarely rides no-hands at speeds this high, so the shimmy problem on this bike has been mostly eliminated with a simple headset change.

In conclusion, we still do not know what causes shimmy on a bike. From Mark’s and my experience, it is unrelated to top tube diameter. A handlebar bag does increase the likelihood of shimmy on Mark’s Ti Cycles, but many other bikes with handlebar bags do not shimmy. We found that we could eliminate most of the shimmy on one of the worst bikes we experienced, by replacing the Chris King headset with a needle-bearing Stronglight model. If your bike shimmies, it is worth a try.

New JerSey! ;) :lol:



NJS is Nihon Jitensha Shinkokai aka the Japanese Keirin Association. They set the allowed specifications for Keirin racing. Something that is NJS certified simply means it conforms to their specifications...doesn't necessarily denote quality.