expensive headsets

nicklouse

well it does depend on which CC headset it is.

but as they did come up with, and hold the patent for, the Aheadset.

gaz047

had a cane creek s3 on my hardtail for 4 years now. they were £30 at the time (dont know if they are still £30). done thousands of miles, regreased aound every 6 months, still no play and running smooth.
then you can get something else with the £70 you've saved

junglist_matty

RE: extra quality blah blah blah...

So buying a designer cotton T-Shirt for £100 is different to a plain cotton T-Shirt for £10? NO! You pay for the bling.

I put it to anyone to break an FSA PIG DH Pro, if they manage it they should probably stop riding or will be in hospital for a very long time.... it costs £20 brand new off eBay!

alfablue

I like the idea of CK/Hope headsets, but I have been using FSA Orbits for years (£30), never worn one out yet. I think there are other areas where I would spend the money better (wheels particularly), of course, in the ideal world I would have it all!

yoohoo999

junglist_matty wrote:

I put it to anyone to break an FSA PIG DH Pro, if they manage it they should probably stop riding or will be in hospital for a very long time

FSA PIG DH PRO = 215g (£30) ugly

Hope Headset = 105g (£60) looks good


Its a BALANCE of all of the things I mentioned when you are looking at value.

It's easy to make a cheap and strong headset - it's more difficult to make it strong, light and look good.

The simple fact is that Hope make a strong, light, durable, well finished headset with an excellent warranty and aftersales support for £60. That is not poor value.

supersonic

Or get nigh on the same thing from CC for half the price. Remember, Hope license the design from them. The CC patent is written on the side of it!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CANE-CREEK-S6-1-1 ... dZViewItem

gaz047

cane creek s3 112g (£25)
cheap, strong, light.

Anonymous

gaz047 wrote:

cane creek s3 112g (£25)
cheap, strong, light.

you normally have to pick 2 of those options!! there is definately nowt wrong cheaper headsets, as mentioned above all headsets need maintenance, some just need less.

there can be no denying that any expensive part can be replaced with one cheaper but its always nice to have a bit of what i think the kids call "bling"

supersonic

You can even upgrade cheap headsets - cheaply. Just get a better stainless sealed bearing from a supplier.

Northwind

yoohoo999 wrote:

FSA PIG DH PRO = 215g (£30) ugly

Hope Headset = 105g (£60) looks good

Maybe not the best comparison, since the Pig is a DH/freeride headset, so built much stronger than most, and so very heavy and very ugly. Cane Creek as mentioned by other people is a better one probably.

supersonic

Ugly headsets? Whatever next!!!

kopite1979

supersonic wrote:

Ugly headsets? Whatever next!!!

nicklouse

I has a DD-cup headset

toasty

Northwind wrote:

yoohoo999 wrote:

FSA PIG DH PRO = 215g (£30) ugly

Hope Headset = 105g (£60) looks good

Maybe not the best comparison, since the Pig is a DH/freeride headset, so built much stronger than most, and so very heavy and very ugly. Cane Creek as mentioned by other people is a better one probably.

Slight bending of the truth too imo :P The FSA models is:

A) Not as heavy as that (quoted 180g - tested at about the same)
Not as expensive as that (does anywhere sell if over £20?)
C) Not overly offensive to look at, it doesn't have "Hope" emblazoned across the front if that's what you mean? Did you really find this old style Hope headset pretty though?

75g extra weight, for huge indestructable bearings made for taking much bigger impacts and 1/3 the cost doesn't sound too bad a deal :P As I mentioned, if mine would just die I'd get a Cane Creek or something, unfortunately it won't so I can't justify replacing it. It's on a fairly slender XC bike, nggh. When I bought the frame I needed a headset sharpish and it was the only one the LBS had in stock randomly.

yoohoo999

Toasty wrote:

Northwind wrote:

Slight bending of the truth too imo :P The FSA models is:

A) Not as heavy as that (quoted 180g - tested at about the same)
Not as expensive as that (does anywhere sell if over £20?)
C) Not overly offensive to look at, it doesn't have "Hope" emblazoned across the front if that's what you mean? Did you really find this old style Hope headset pretty though?

You are comparing the wrong model.

It IS £30
It DOES weight 215g
It IS ugly.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... odelID=275

nicklouse

Nice to See CRC typists get it right again

Pig pro DH 176g, Pig DH 180g

Salsa

My previous headset was a £30 Cane Creek, every 3 months when I went to clean/grease it it was filthy & going rusty.
10 years ago I got a 2nd hand Chris King, it's still in my latest bike & every year or so when I take it apart to grease it it still looks like new inside. Makes me wonder why I bother taking it apart really.

yoohoo999

nicklouse wrote:

Nice to See CRC typists get it right again

Pig pro DH 176g, Pig DH 180g

ha ha, too true.

i once saw a bottom bracket on CRC that was stated to weigh 315lb.

would probably have made my bike a bit sluggish on the uphills so I gave it a miss.

XxxBFGxxX

i have just got my self a chris king head set and it looks the muts nuts. yer it was expensive but i have read alot about them. so nmuch so i am ordering one of his BB this month aswll

junglist_matty

yoohoo999 wrote:

Toasty wrote:

Northwind wrote:

Slight bending of the truth too imo :P The FSA models is:

A) Not as heavy as that (quoted 180g - tested at about the same)
Not as expensive as that (does anywhere sell if over £20?)
C) Not overly offensive to look at, it doesn't have "Hope" emblazoned across the front if that's what you mean? Did you really find this old style Hope headset pretty though?

You are comparing the wrong model.

It IS £30
It DOES weight 215g
It IS ugly.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... odelID=275

its NOT £30
Its DOESN'T weigh 215g

it IS under £20 - http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=66
It DOES weigh 176g

Its one of the strongest headsets money can buy, its also prooving the point that for the sacrifice of £80 (the price of a decent rear deurailleur) and a few grams you get a superior product in that it will last forever and take far more abuse than your 40 or 50g lighter Hope or Chris King.... fucking hell, if your worried about a difference of 50g you really are a sad person, regardless of what style you ride.... XC or DH, its not exactly going to make one bit of difference to your riding times - having a shit before your ride would make more difference!

Comparing looks of headsets..... You really are an anal gimp!!!! They are two tiny metal cups for f*ck sake that are mostly out of sight... here's a photo of this headset on my bike, look at how massive and bold it is, oh my bike is not worth looking at now because of this fugly headset that you can't miss looking at....

elPedro666

Damn, that headset suits your bike... :shock:

elPedro666

supersonic wrote:

I wholeheartedly agree with Nick here. I have a 13 year old, 15 quid Dia Compe headset, weighs about 90g, still running fine with 2 bearing changes. More expensive headsets do not feel any smoother than cheap ones when they are fitted and loaded correctly.

I personally see no benefit at all.

The Hope headset is a licensed design from Cane Creek.

HaHa - just changed my forks & thought about changing my 12 year old, 15 Dia Compe Aheadset, but nah, still running fine despite being sunk in bog after stream after bog after bog...

Big fan of Hope for all the reasons already mentioned though and as a whole, when you include the service etc it doesn't look quite so bad.

yoohoo999

junglist_matty wrote:

for the sacrifice of £80]

a hope headset costs £60, so we are talking £40 difference max, not £80.

******* hell, if your worried about a difference of 50g you really are a sad person

who said I was worried about 50g? My bike weighs around 32lbs!! As if I care about 50g?!!

Try and stay on topic, I was referring to WHY these headsets are more expensive, and decent weight to stength ratio is a part of it

Comparing looks of headsets..... You really are an anal gimp!!!!

No, but at the same time, if I was shopping for a belt and I saw one that looked better than the other, I would pick the good looking one.

I like buying things that look good.

Also, there's no real need to make assumptions that i'm an anal gimp because I think some headsets look better than others.

Take your bike for example, people opinion would vary on the look of it, regardless of how well it functioned, everything has some asthetic value.

I like things that are strong, fit for purpose, finished well, look good, durable, good warranty and aftersales service (and admittedly I like to buy british stuff too), so I spend a bit extra on Hope?

I can't believe I'm actually having to justify spending my own money on what I consider to be a superior product :? And taking abuse in the process.

It's only a headset for goodness sake, no need to get so worked up [/quote]

junglist_matty

elPedro666 wrote:

Damn, that headset suits your bike... :shock:

Glad you like it, it cost me under £20!

Superior in strength to chris king or hope, BIG sealed bearings that take impacts very well (considering the HS bearings are what bear the brunt of any impacts from the forks), lasts forever and isn't even 20% of the price of a chris king or hope!!!!

...All these plus factors for a mere 50gram weight sacrifice!!!!

mea00csf

How come you can't accept some people aren't going to make the exact same choices as you? No one was saying you made a bad choice, or you're points aren't valid, just that some people have different priorities!

I like supporting the "small" independent companies where i know i can get great service/warranty and am happy to pay what i consider to be a reasonable premium to do this.

I had lots of research to do for compatibility,sizing, how to fit etc when building up my bike, i defaulted to a number of companies that i trust to make this easier (shimano, onone, hope, race face, mavic etc) then searched around for good deals on kit. i bought my hope headset for £51, yeah, i could have saved £20 buying the Cane Creek one, but with everything else i had to look into, i wasn't aware of the fact it's almost the same headset, otherwise i would definetly have considered

gaz047

sheepsteeth- i know mate 3 out of 3 is rare especially in this game!!! 4 years old and still going strong (cane creek s3)
nowt wrong with 'bling' love gettting new bits for my bikes, for me though to spend that much extra to save less than 10grams and certainly wouldn't change how the bike rode then its not justifiable.
id probably get the headset and then get some tyres, or new bars that will actually change the way the bike handles/rides with the money i saved
not slating people who get expensive headsets (each to their own and all that), its just not for me.

cheers
gaz
ps thats a nice set of bikes you got there!

Northwind

mea00csf wrote:

How come you can't accept some people aren't going to make the exact same choices as you? No one was saying you made a bad choice, or you're points aren't valid, just that some people have different priorities!

I don't think anyone's got an issue with your own choice, just some of the reasons you're giving.

I said earlier that the Pig's a bad comparison vs the Hope, here's a better one, it's what I use:

http://www.highonbikes.com/fsa-orbit-xl ... black.html

Costs £22, weighs less than a Hope, and has proved itself impervious to scottish winter and 2 total immersions so far. Looks good, and very well finished. The only 3 arguments in favour of the Hope, that I can see, is buying british, getting a choice of colours, and buying a cooler, blingier product. None of these is a bad reason of course, but when you're arguing that Hope make sense on build quality, appearance, finish, reliability and weight it's hard not to want to poke holes in that argument. It's like picking a scab

mea00csf

i think you can apply that to everything tho, why spend the extra on xt when slx functions really well etc...... Everyone has their own limits on what they're prepared to pay. I'm sure everyone has something on their bikes that people could find an alternative that they "should" have bought that would have been cheaper/better etc. A lot of people are far too busy to research everything to such an extent and are willing to pay more to companies they trust for the ease of it.

I think the warranty issue is also a totally valid reason for buying Hope kit.

Chaz.Harding

Hmmm...

It's only 50 grams, what difference can it possibly make

Well, actually, it does. You think if you saved 'only' 50 grams in 10 places, which normally isn't too difficult, you save half a kilo. And that, is quite a substantial weight saving IMO.

Northwind

Again, not sure that's a good comparison- since XT is in some ways undeniably better than SLX, but I'm not sure that the Hope (or comparable) pricey headsets are neccesarily better than some of the cheaper competitors. The performance is certainly close, though. The Orbit actually beats the Hope in weight stakes. In terms of longevity, I don't know how well they compare.

Have to admit I didn't know Hope have a better warranty than other places? Their actual warranty service is incredibly good though, so you're right, that's a selling point. The website's not got any info on the parts' actual warranty that I can see.