Going cheap on CRC….any good?

It’s Crank Bros, enough said.

Just fitted one on the Onion, so too early to say. Stories abound of them going rusty though? Very small stack size so you may need to add a spacer. Remember to use the supplied installation “tool”.

Mine’s ok a year on. I’ve kept the receipt in case I do need the 5 year warranty at some point. At £20 I’d certainly get another if I needed one.

Mine’s ok a year on.

O rly, which bike?

On my swift – needed to get the front end low so got one cheap at Edinburgh Co-Op

discontinued now so would be wary of a five year warranty which cant be backed up

Utter Shite. Avoid

Bought it for the low stack height mine was completely dead in under a year. The outside of the cups were rusty and the bearings are really badly sealed. After a wet ride you could actually see where the grease had been washed out.

Possibly the worst bike component I’ve ever owned

argyle – Member
discontinued now so would be wary of a five year warranty which cant be backed up

No odds – it’s still a 5 year warranty so long as Crank Bros are operating. If they can’t replace then they’d have to either refund or replace with something else.

Pig for £15….

argyle – Member

discontinued now so would be wary of a five year warranty which cant be backed up

Pure are damn good at warranty back up for CB products, they should be they must have enough practice.

And I have also heard others say similar to rich but I can only report my experience – no rust and still smooth a year on.

I have the Iodine – it’s pitched as AM so I’m hoping it’s more durable. Got it purely for the stack height, as my steerer was cut too short.

It’s nicely packaged, but it doesn’t have the look and feel of something that’s going to last very long.

Is the swift your fair weather bike though?

Good point there – I actually have the iodine (orange) one. Never did spend the time to work out the difference.

KINGTUT – Member
Is the swift your fair weather bike though?

Not really. It’s done enough muddy, wet rides that if the headsets were all as bad as some say, it’d be well dead.

It’s nicely packaged,

The One thing that CB is very good at.

i fitted one on my intense 5.5, used correct tools and procedure.

the outer rim of my top cup actually cracked and the bearings are so small in these that i found setting and maintaining a good smooth headset quite difficult.

i would not reccomend this part.

I put the DH one in a Bullit and it was fine for about 18 months until I changed frames and it became surplus to requirements. When I took it out it literally dropped out, though it hadn’t been loose in use – frame or headset issue, not sure.

I had no issues with it, it was well ridden including a lot of trail riding in the Peaks etc, didn’t require a re-grease or new bearings, or tightening. There was a bit of surface corrosion when it came out, but nothing serious – the design depends on it being made of steel though.

2Pure sent me a second headset race FOC when I asked if I could buy one and I had no problems with regularly swapping forks about.

£20? Worth it based on my experience.

Indeed. I’ve still got the box in anticipation of a warranty claim at some point in the next four years 🙂

What richmtb said and the pig isn’t much better either.

Get one with sealed bearings

Yeah – never understood people recommending The Pig – it weighs a ton, and isn’t sealed. **** that.