Nessism

I’m pretty careful and anal about my equipment but every headset I’ve ever used, other than a King, suffered brinelling failure after a few years. King headsets seem bullet proof in this regard thus I use them on most of my bikes.

To concur with what bellweatherman said, King threadless headsets put a lot of pressure on carbon steerer tube forks and will create a dent where the top bearing contacts the tube. I’ve got 9000 miles on one bike and this thread reminds me to pull that bad boy apart again and give it a good inspection. This IS a real concern, and people with lots of miles on their King HS/carbon steerer tube bikes should pay attention.

bellweatherman

The fork steerer still failed at the junction between the stem and headset, caused by the scoring mark left by everyone's favorite headset. I think Hincapie opted to switch out to a lighter carbon steerer fork against the recommendations of his team mechanics. The mechanics obviously are not going to blame a crash on a component issue.

PhattTyre

+1 for the Shimano STX. They're cheap, sealed cartridge, and steel.. they last a long time.

well biked

Considering the OP's question was "what's the best 1"threaded headset?", your point doesn't really apply in this case. I sure like my Chris King for what I'm using it for (mountain biking), despite being a "clone" in the eyes of bellweatherman. I think I can live with that-

supcom

Funny that even Trek stated that the fork was one of theirs and that it had an aluminum steer tube (at the time, Trek stated that they did not make any carbon steer tube forks). They also concluded that Hincapie's crash the day before was the primary cause of the steer tube failure.

After making several google searches, I don't seem to find any reports of C-K headsets causing steer tube failures. I certainly would expect that if your assertion is true that there would be numerous reports of face plants caused by C-K induced failures. Both C-K headsets and carbon forks have been out long enough for this sort of problem to have surfaced. Do you have any substantiating links?

I'd also expect that C-K's insurance carrier would have forced the company to recall headsets that cause any significant risk of steer tube failures, or at least a warning that such headsets not be used on whatever types of steer tubes are vulnerable to the damage you claim to be caused by the headset.

BTW, I know several randonneurs who put over 10,000 miles per year on C-K headsets (unknown steer tube material) but have yet to see one of them have a steer tube failure.

Batavus

+2

At our shop it's the standard headset on our go anywhere, steel framed, Rohloff equipped trekking bikes, be it in 1 1/8 size.

Sadly, they are being discontinued and we will be replacing them with Tange headsets of the same quality.

masiman

I think most on here are willing to listen to your counterpoint bellweatherman, but it is starting to sound like a troll. You offered an opinion that was a big outlyer, with some innuendo, some apparently wrong information, some name calling and some alleged better information than others. Your info is now being questioned. I really hope you can back up what you implied. The only part of your story that seems to have backup is the tight tolerances on the cups.

I also hope you will chime in with your favorite headset nomination(s) given your other strong opinions. This is not "Celebrity Apprentice" or "Survivor" where the one who can make others look the worst without taking risks will win.

Sixty Fiver

Tange delivers a really good value for the dollar and I believe, and someone might confirm this for me, that Kuwahara used Tange to produce their rather exceptional headsets. I'd choose the Levin as it is an exceptional value.

Stroglight A9 - 'nuff said...they are legendary.

Shimano headsets of very high quality and it looks like Harris has an excellent selection of them.

I can't see myself forking out $$$ on a CK when there are other products that deliver equivalant performance at a much lower cost.

The longest lived headsets I see are those I find on old Raleigh bicycles... they seem like they were designed to work forever and seem nearly wear proof if they are kept properly adjusted and maintained.

Nessism

I’m not defending bellweatherman, but I can categorically state that the steerer tube on my Look HSC-3 fork IS DENTED where it contacts the King headset. Is it going to fail? I sure as heck hope not! Had another frame with Columbus Muscle fork and King headset and it also had the dent. Is there a design flaw in the headset which creates undue stress on carbon steerer tube road forks? Maybe. Fortunately, carbon steerer tubes are pretty darn robust and apparently seem capable of absorbing a LOT of abuse.

BTW, Darrell McCulloch of Llewellyn Cycles posted a similar notice about King headsets and carbon steerer tube forks on the Framebuilders list a while back. Darrell is a world class framebuilder, and wrenched for the Australian National team for a good many years. Very qualified source of information. https://www.llewellynbikes.com/main.htm

well biked

But see how you stated what you know about it without calling people names?

cavernmech

+1

Also the O.P. asked for THREADED headset suggestions. How the debate turned into a slam against a threadless headset is funny.

I have an old riding buddy who has an original 20+ year old King that has been installed in at least 7 1 inch bikes over the years. He has taken care of it and he is still riding it in his Ritchey P-22. They are expensive, but if this is a "best' competition then King wins hands down.

FYI Shimano never made threadless headsets to avoid paying a patent fee for it's usage. Besides keirin usage, this why they have continued to make only threaded headsets for so long. We used to bore the threads out of the top race and use em threadless before there was a good choice of quality aheadsets. Any of their cartridge headsets are a good economical choice.

DiTBho

which one?
- Victory? 120 Euro, NOS
- SuperRecord? 150 Euro, NOS
- ...

DiTBho

Which threading do they offer? ISO threading?
The manual only says 24TPI, which means { Campagnolo BC1", BSC, ISO, .. }, but exaxtly which one?

The GripNut costs 220 euros here, and the handmade steel NivaCrMo fork (650g!!!) costs 300 euros. That's a lot of money.
For 500 euros I would like the headset fork combination to be perfect, rather than a botched job that "just works".

The homemade fork has not yet been threaded, I would like to understand exactly which thread I should use.

Mackers

Record EC30 is less than 50 Euro at Bike24.

DiTBho

yes, but it's a completely different object, compared to the mentioned { Victory, SuperRecord, ... }

Mackers

It's a threaded 1" headset.

Is that not what you want?

SurferRosa

fyi: You just bumped a 16 year old thread to quote one member who hasn't posted in over 6 years and another who hasn't posted in 16 years.

DiTBho

I Googled it, and would be interested in reading an answer, not necessarily from the people I mentioned.

70sSanO

The best threaded headset is one that fits stack requirements, especially if it needs 35mm.

John

Keefusb

I concur with the Chris King fan boys here, CK headsets are just about bulletproof. I have had one installed on my primary ride since 1998 with three clean and grease cycles, zero signs of wear or brinelling. I also have the Shimano 6500 Ultegra headset installed on 4 additional bikes. Again, I have found the Shimano 6500 headsets to be pretty close to indestructible, thousands of miles and many years of use with no perceptible wear or problems.

ign1te

Get a Tange one. Which ever steel one fits your budget.

Camilo

Has anyone ever worn out an inexpensive headset like Velo Orange?

79pmooney

The bike of my avatar photo came with a Chris King Gripnut HS. It would not stay in adjustment. By 400 miles it was loose enough to rattle on tough roads. 600 miles was the absolute limit. I figured I simply did not have the hand strength to get it tight enough but good bike shop mechanics did no better. Neither did the CK factory when I took it there. At around 8000 miles (quite a few adjusts) I finally took it off and put in a Tange. Dead simple. A tweak at 200 miles, a tweak every few thousand. At 8k, either a new $35 HS or loose balls in the lower cup to take it to 10k.

I hear the Gripnuts are wonder headsets. I won't touch another until I know why I had that nightmare. (My other good bike has a threadless CK that's been dead easy and I'd do that one again in a flash if it wears out. I also love the Stronglight roller bearing HSs. (A23?) My Mooney's at 27k feels brand new.

grumpus

Ideally you would have cut the thread in a lathe before assembling the fork, using the headset you intended to use as a guide to depth of cut for best fit. Then build the fork and put it back in the lathe to cut the crown seat, again using the headset as a guide to finished press-fit dimension.

kcjc

Between the DA 7400, Ultegra 600, Campagnolo C Record, and Stronglight A9 headsets I had on my bikes in the late '80s and early '90s, my vote is for the needle-bearing.