my canecreek on my 5 has died and looking for a replacement . i dont want to spend money on a chris king was looking at a hope any other 1s i should be looking at max i want to spend is £60

Orbit XL2 from On One

Does anyone use a Woodman Axis SL? They look quite good on ebay for £30 but its about the same price as a Canecreek and I'd like something a bit better sealed.

My Canecreek also just died and the bearings weren't recoverable but they look the same as what go into the spare Superstar GTO headset I had lying around. For all the blurb about 'custom' bearings in Cane creek headsets, what a load of balls!?

If max you want to spend is £60, then buy a chris king one. Cant think of any reason not too, unless you really dont want the best you can get.

Second hand off ebay, good as new.

unless it was fitted and removed by a spanner. I mean, why on earth would you need to sell a chris king headset?

You can get a Hope for £60. Sealed better than my Cane Creek S3 (also cartridge with some sealing) and has a split crown race, which makes me so very, very happy.

and CK is $129 at aspire velotech which is about £75 (free worldwide postage), not much over your budget or that of a Hope. They are as good as everyone says, in the 5 years mines been on my Coiler Ive had 5 bottom brackets, 2 sets of rear pivot bearings, just had to service the hubs, and the king looks and feels like it did when it came out the box and has needed no attention. My new bike has a CK headset, as will every bike I buy.

On-one Smoothie regular £36 I have had one in my Scandal for 3 years and it is still spinning as smooth as the day I fitted it

Hope is the best headset for the price

ok cheers guys

Got an unused Chris King No Threadset in silver
that i need to get rid of, was looking around £75 posted
but thats over your budget

FSA Orbit XL II – I swear by them.

You can get two of them for your budget.

munge chick…how do you work that price out?
it seems to me the company is based in USA so at the current exchange rate your price seems way off?
would be nice if I'm wrong 😉

Do the Chris King or Hope have any extra sealing in the bottom race?

The Cane Creek I had just had a bog standard cartridge bearing and that just doesn't seem sufficient.

Just what is it that makes CK or Hope that much better??

Just what is it that makes CK or Hope that much better??

TBH it's mostly the bearings and the finish. Hope were very well sealed (dunno what they're like now) bit overkill if I'm honest, there were o rings and seals everywhere. CK/Hope H/S need looking after just like everything else, it's just the quality of the parts mean that they generally look and last better. For £60 I'd buy Hope, or cane creek S8

I've got a Cane Creek S3 that I think was about £25. It's been on the bike about one and a half years & I took it out the other week as I was removing the forks for a service.
Couldn't believe how clean the headset was & how 'fresh' the bearings felt. Just gave it a clean, regrease & stuck it back in. Probaly be good for another 1 and a half yrs.

Its a Cane Creek S3 that died on me. The bearings were corroded all round the outside and though I took the seals out, the ball retainers got in the way of putting any meaningful amount of new grease in.

That was after about a years use. Not that I mind servicing things but it seems cartidge bearings cost so much more than a packet of loose balls!