Upgrading Headset

portland_bill

Morning all,

Had a brief fiddle with my bike over the weekend removing and cleaning the bottom bracket blah blah, and I noticed my headset needs servicing again (only did it about 6 months ago and I've barely had the time to use it this summer, so I'm now thinking about upgrading to a headset with cartridge type bearings in rather than the caged BBs like mine has.

Thing is I know nothing about Headsets so was wondering what I need to look at to see which types are compatible with my bike and basically, which headset is a good place to start?

Are the Superstar components ones any cop? I'd prefer not to spend a fortune on it, but willing to part with a little cash to have something half decent.

cooldad

Depends what standard it is.
1 and 1/8 try FSA Orbit XLII - £17.50 on Ebay - superb headset.

Chunkers1980

How did you notice it needs servicing?

If it runs smoothish and does not click then is there really a problem?

On one of my bikes I have a headset similar to yours and it is well over 5 years old.

Cartidge bearing are not the holy grail - if they go you need to replace the whole unit, caged balls can just be cleaned and packed with good quality grease and will often just keep working.

portland_bill

It ain't smooth, that's how I noticed!

To be fair, I'm giving both my roadie and MTB a good going over coz I've just moved house in the last couple of months and my old garage at my old house was a damp little nook and I lived close to the sea so I've gone through a shed load of chains even though I clean and lube them as often as possible but a lot of things, including many of the bolts have just turned to rust and I suspect that has been part of the reason I've had to service the headset so often.

Basically, now that they live in a nice, well sealed and dry garage, I'm replacing all the rusted bolts and bits and going through them component by component, and since the headset on my MTB has never been changed, it is also probably around 5 years old.

junglist_matty

What MTB frame is it?

pete_s

cooldad wrote:

Depends what standard it is.
1 and 1/8 try FSA Orbit XLII - £17.50 on Ebay - superb headset.

Definitely. Had an Orbit on another bike and thought it was excellent.

Hope have a good guide on how to find the right headset.
http://www.hopetech.com/webtop/modules/ ... 011Web.pdf

There's 1" 1/8' but that's only the steerer. The inner diameter of head tubes aren't necessarily the same.

portland_bill

White and Blue Cube Acid, although I can't remember which year and can't find anything about it online.

YeehaaMcgee

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Cartidge bearing are not the holy grail - if they go you need to replace the whole unit

No you don't, you just replace the (cartridge) bearing.

Chunkers1980

Yes the whole bearing unit - the cartridge, effectively the cup and cones is what I mean by whole, not the whole of the top or bottom assembly.

cooldad

Cup and cones? Wrong end I think.

YeehaaMcgee

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Yes the whole bearing unit - the cartridge, effectively the cup and cones is what I mean by whole, not the whole of the top or bottom assembly.

Er... what?
I think you need to lay off the glue.

Chunkers1980

Nope, perhaps not the correct terminology hence why I said effectively, the inner race acts very much like a cone, and the outer race like a cup.

cooldad

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Nope, perhaps not the correct terminology hence why I said effectively, the inner race acts very much like a cone, and the outer race like a cup.

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Er... what?
I think you need to lay off the glue.

portland_bill

Ok so I got a response from Cube this morning after e-mailing them yesterday afternoon to ask for their advice on what is compatible with my bike.

They said I can use a "Standard Semi-Integrated Headset".

Does that mean anything to anyone else because I'm none the wiser?

cooldad

There you go

portland_bill

:oops:

Thanks Cooldad!

jairaj

Cane Creeks website has a handy "what headset do I need" wizard type section might help you a bit more understand what you need.

In my experience a £40 (rrp) headset from FSA or Cane Creek are about as good as you get. Also these are usually available for much less than rrp making them even better value. No need to get sucked into buying a Hope headset.