Go one then, what would you suggest? Up to about £40. Or should I just bight the bullet and get a Chris King?

Cane Creek S2 on ebay for £20ish

Never really had a good reason to look beyond FSA XLII.

I think the S2 is better sealed myself. The XL2 is fine but does suffer in the dirty/rain.

King all the way, it’ll be the last one you buy, (unless you buy another for another bike of course!)my oldest is 13 yrs old and never touched it, still buttery smooth.

flippinheckler recomended this cheap deal for a Cane Creek S8 on a previous post.

get a CK

those cheap s8’s can be a bit dodgy – the one i got came with unsealed bearings that rotted in about 4 months and tahts with regular maintainence.

i since bought some unbranded fully sealed bearings and that sorted the problem

As an aside has anyone ever read this article on King headsets.

It seems a bit like propaganda to me as I have only ever heard good things about King headsets.

FSA Pig. It’s all the headset you will need.

£40 every year or £110 every 10 years? Upto you of course.

Quite a few folk on here have had CK headsets marking their steerers IIRC

CK all the way here, too. My first one has been on for over 5 years and not been touched (other than swapping to various bikes along the way). Still good as new.

£40 every year????

My first FSA orbit XL11 is 5 years old and hasn’t been touched. You can get them on ebay for £20. I have 4 of them going strong on bikes and never touched any of them.

IMO CK is just paying for the name.

Orbit XLII. Can’t fault it. Certainly not for £20. Mines been in three frames so far and I have a spare in the toolbox.

Orbit XLII

Mine 3 years old used all year round on an off road commute and it’s as good as new.

xl2 here on a few of my bikes. I wouldn’t fit anything else now and they can pretty easily be had for £20.