[Closed] Hope or CK Headset????

FSA Orbit

I've had a Hope one for 7 trouble-free years.

Hope if you're a bit scummy otherwise King.

😉

If you have the cash, King.

Hope was my only option for a giant glory. 😕

King if you can, I reckon one of the best made bits of bike kit ever!

King if you can, I reckon one of the best made bits of bike kit ever!

If you like a damaged steerer. Nicely made but poorly designed.

2nd an FSA

You may be right there, having just taken my forks off the (King headset) bike for a service there's a big score mark around the steerer at a headset interface. Not particularly deep in relation to the thickness of the steerer tube but a tad worrying.

King for the last 9 trouble free years, the last 4 of which have been on a long travel fork with no scoring. A bit of grease on the bearing cap/steerer interface does wonders for longevity...

So confirmation that the CK is good - what about Hope experiences?

Young David - is that the new Hope one or the older one?

I've heard (On here) Kings don't like long travel forks, something about scoring the steerer tube... Not owning either I couldn't be sure, but if your forks are longer than 130mm I'd not go for the king... Unless they have that sorted now...

I use FSA's pig's or MX's, but I work for a living... 😉

Running 130mm Menjas.

Five year-old Hope on a steel frame here and not a single problem.

FSA XL2 is a good headset for the money. Can get them for £20 new on ebay. Hope at around 60 quid are no way 3 times better. Maybe the Hop is a slight bit better due to stianless bearings. Parts are cheap and easy to get for the FSA ones too. I have had an Hope one break but never an FSA XL2. I have had a couple of Raceface Deus ones too which are defo better than the Hope ones.

Kings are just stupid and for people who dont like to go out on a Saturday night!

I have one CK but have bought FSA thereafter, great value and quality

Got one of each, no trouble with either. Fitted/sold loads of Hope headsets in the shop and not had any back with problems(apart from one of the very first I suspect had been jetwashed, now on a mates bike after clean up and running fine for about 6 years), don't fit as many Kings but no problems with those either.Haven't fitted many XL2s but have removed some horrendously grotty ones in the past, not sure if they're the same as the aftermarket items though.
Whichever way you go, remember that a good layer of grease on assembly acts as a very effective barrier against dirt ingress and will increase it's chances of survival.

hope.

i realise that steering scoring doesn't affect everybody, but it does affect a good fraction, so why choose bling over function? hope have been flawless for me.

my king headset is sat on the shelf waiting for a roadbike to go in!

I take it this isn't a troll!?

Ok, there was a thread on this very recently, and oddly enough the Hope bias on this thread was not there at all.

Having had two Hope's the Mk1 and the Mk2 - I wouldn't go near them with my hard earn't again! Two Kings, one is ten years and trouble free, the other is second hand and trouble free.

As for the XL11, what a pile of pish, mine lasted just a few months - just don't get it wet!

If you're fitting it to a Glory, why not go for one of the steel Kings, as it's a pretty hardcore free ride bike.?

Hope.

They're easily as good as King, they're British, they look nice and I've had numerous without any problems whatsoever.

A mate has a hope on his 224 that has done 5 years of guiding in Morzine, 3 mega's, numerous UK DH races and used as his every day hack. He's not even greased it and it's functionally fine. I cannot reccommend them highly enough.

>Having had two Hope's the Mk1 and the Mk2 - I wouldn't go near them with my hard earn't again!

What was the problem with them ?

There were some big threads, maybe on the old forum, about CK scoring steerer tubes. IIRC CK know about it and it's something to do with them not wanting to buy a licence to use the Aheadset patent. Seems this patent runs out in a couple of years, and they may change their format then. But, they do seem to score steerers; I took mine off when I saw what had happened and fitted a Hope.

The bearing went on the lower of the Mk1 after three years, I wasn't too fussed about that time scale, but having a King on my other bike for 6-7 years, it didn't compare, firstly. Secondly, I couldn't get a replacement bearing, contacted Hope, they were fairly nonchalant about it - 'we stopped making them, and they weren't retro fit anyway'. Buy a new headset was the only option, anyway after expressing my dissapointment of buying a top on the line boutique part, and needing to bin it after three years, they eventually offered me one of the new one's, at a discounted price, as long as I sent them the old unit. For the cost of a bearing set, I got a new headset - it did take a fair bit of 'negociating' though.

On fitting this new Mk2, I did think that there was a lot of parts and rubber seals compared to my King, and I particularly didn't like the huge exposed external black seal, which spoilt the clean silver look of my retro steel hardtail - but was still grateful of the warranty 'assisted' item. Anyway, I removed the forks just a few rides later, and the headset was saturated with water, and the bearing/cup showed signs that the bearing race had been spinning slightly in the cup - I follwed the fitting instructions, and greased it as suggested - which again I thought was a bit of a cop-out - greasing the external surfaces of a sealed unit, it can't be very sealed! I really wasn't impressed, it wasn't much more than an XL11 with some extra rubber seals to be honest. Not worth the money IMO. I did a question thread on here, and because they were quite new then, I had one response, and some guy's MK2 had crapped out in a couple of months - seized bearing, I wasn't surprised. I managed to swap it for a couple of year old King that a mate was disposing of with a frame sale - no regrets since.

If you want the bling of the CK but without the steerer worry, why not look at the Cane Creek 110 headsets. King quality with a proper tapered ring to hold it all tight rather than the o-ring used by CK.

Having said that, I've got a current Hope headset a year old and never been touched and two king headsets well out of their ten year warranty that give me no trouble. There is a shadow on the steerer when the top cap sits (on Van 36 forks) but it's no worse than my mates Hope headset has done to his Fox 32 steerer.

Whay would it be a big deal to put some grease on the surface of the bearing? This is common practice on most things of this ilk. As for a black seal spoiling the clean lines of a retro bike, thats just pathetic! I'm glad I don't make or sell bike parts to people.

I've had CK on all my bikes for the last 10 years, apart from my current.
As its an anthem with a semi integrated headset (and CK didnt make them at the time) I went for Hope. Very good, no problems and would happily have one again.

So, no-one has problems with Ck apart from the scoring.

Mixed on the Hope - same as their BBs it would seem.

I reckon I'll go with the Hope as it'll match the new BB and the seatclamp the frame comes with.

Cheers

support UK manufacturing.

If only chris king would pay for cane creek's aheadset patent! They would truly have the ultimate headset as their bearings are amazing. I have had about 5 king headsets (4X/AM/DH bikes). All have constantly come loose and also caused scoring of the steerer tube. All frames had their heatubes faced correctly. I would only use kings on bikes that don't get hammered or have very short travel forks. Currently using cane creek XCII flush and 110 headsets. Bearings are cr@p (110 year warranty my ar!e) but at least they stay tight! The king design relies on the steerer tube being manufactured to extremely high tolerances, which in reality are unrealistic.

My verdict.... go with hope as buying a new headset or bearings is cheaper than buying a new upper assembly for your forks.

lol @ the CK haters.
it's all about preservation of the 'o' ring seal.

keep your steerer burr-free and CK will go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on

lecht, I don't agree. The aheadset is a fundamentally better design. King know this but they wont pay for the patent. They have got round the patent with a poor design that is fine for road bikes and people whose wheels never leave the ground. Anyone who rides their bike properly will experience problems with this design. The o-ring on the king design is an o-ring (i.e. a seal / retainer) It is not there to keep the headset tight or provide guidance.

If the fork steerer tube is slightly undersized (of the order of a few thousands of an inch) the rubber o-ring is the only thing providing radial guidance for the steerer. Since this is very compressible, there will be movement between the steerer and bearing cap. Bascially, fretting/galling will result, producing the scoring. In reality, if the steerer was manufactured to a precise fit on the bearing cap, the o-ring would not be required and the king headset design would be great. In reality, this is not the case.

Since the aheadset design actually centres itself and tightens onto the steerer it is fundamentally better.

If anyone has the time (and money!?), here is a plan. Get the bearing cap (the part with the tapered ring in it) from a cane creek 110 and fit this to a king headset. AFAIK, the king and cane creek 110 bearings have very similar dimensions (possibly the same). This would be a headset which stays tight and has awesome bearings!

Ope lad, get an Ope.

eichler - that's true, but i run CK on 140 & 160mm forks without any issue, and have done for years......

hard riding here in NE Scotland too.......as well as Laggan, Fort Bill, etc......

lecht, you must have a "good" set of forks with a steerer which conforms to king's tolerances. Yeah, I have a king headset on a bmx cruiser which I used to race the midlands series on. The king bearing cap is a really tight fit on the steerer (I have to hit the end of the fork steerer with a lump hammer and a block of wood to remove the forks!) and it has never come loose, even after me casing the landings of most of the doubles I go over... No problems with scoring either! If all manufacturers machined their steerers to king's specs, then I would say get a king. Unfortunately,this is not the case and it would probably increase prices even further anyway. So, for the majority of people, I would say stay clear of them.

Chris King for def....

Had a hope and it didn't last anytime ;-/