Well, as seems to be the regular case on here. My C456 Smoothie headset took on the straight ahead approach when I tried to move it the other day. Its not a bike i regulary ride, probably a half dozen times since its build last year. Mainly due to what ended up as being duff Fox forx damper, replaced by Mojo under warranty and the fact i enjoy the scandal so much to ride. So although being 13 months old and that it hasnt been a good headset involving rusty water after ride one, which i stripped and flushed the bearings the following day and regreased with Exus grease. Now I have emailed On one for their thoughts on this and I have been asked to ‘remove the headset and send it back to them’ All well and good, but I was hoping they may have some better sealed bearings to send me, rather than having to remove the headset. Obviously in the meantime between sending and getting a reply, i have soaked the locked upper bearing and although courser than sandpaper, it does actually rotate now. The email i got back stated that the bearings ‘ are not covered under warranty’ so I am really not sure where this is going to go?
Anyone else sent theres back and had the same quandry as me on this? Running 130mm forks on this so dont really want a slackset on it to be honest. Other than Hope what options do i have ?
Cheers

Mine did the same after maybe 6-8 months. I’m not sure about timescales tbh and I guess it’s only relative to no. of hours used and time of year, but it was very poor IMO. Never did anything about it tho, I kind of considered it my fault for buying cheap and not listening to warnings off here. However, I under took to warn everyone of their sh1teness, at every opportunity. I’m now trying a On-One/Works Components slackset.

good luck removing the headset – I had to put mine in a vice as there’s no purchase inside the headtube for a headset removal tool.

I replaced it with a Hope one, tbh.

Really only my first On One issue over many, many purchases to be honest.Thats one reason why i am a bit miffed with having to remove the heaset, as they can be a sod to come out and can look knacked afterwards. Has the Hope headset been good so far? It is really a summer bike as such, but the rusty water came out after a day ride to the FoD which was a bit damp. The Fox forks really blighted the ride, but now fixed they are fab.Just the Scandal to me fits like a glove, which is why it doesnt get ridden much, although I do want to use it again.

Mine lasted at most 10 summer rides before it went rough. I got it free with the frame, and tbh I still couldn’t call it good value.

I had the Hope headset on my 456C and was really impressed with it..

Might just stick it in the post and see what happens then. I have a headset remover and may try to mod it to remove the lower cup out the frame. Worse case senario is I buy an alternative headset.

Running the SS headset here and no probs at all. Didn’t like the Hope set up at the time (they had a reducer bottom cup instead of the crown adapter they have now). No crown race sealing so I just pack with grease and the only grittyness I have had in 2 years is when grit gets in the sealing grease, quick replace of that that back to as new and never touched the bearings. Worst case is I have to buy new bearings if they fail but they are not expensive.

Andy, whats the SS headset?

Superstar components – they also do one similar to the Smoothie, I believe.

I’m looking at headsets for a mk 2 Scandal at the moment – a tapered job like the c456. There doesn’t seem to be much choice out there…

Ah, right, will have a look at the SS one. Hope it lasts longer than their BB’s