[Closed] How bad / good are Crank Brothers Headsets

AFAIK, 2pure(distributors) are very god with warranty items, so that shouldn't an issue but as my pedals died within 6 months, i wouldn't go near any of their kit again.

They rust if you look at them with moist eyeballs

They are'nt the most robust under british conditions tbh.If you treat them as you would a loose bearing headset (which they basically are) and regrease them regularly they should keep going o.k.Mixing top and bottom cups sounds like a winner to me.

Mines rusty

But how's your headset.....badda boom!!!

The finish rusts up v.quickly

A few people have mentioned rust. Surely this doesn't apply to the stainless ones too?

VC

Not if you look after it, it doesn't. Quick wipe over the outside of the cups with a little GT85 after a wet/muddy ride (don't spray it 🙄 ) and they stay looking good.

Iodine sl started showing signs of rust after a couple of rides. I'm not going to towel dry my bike after every ride ffs

what are your forks?
no way you can flog and swap?

Alternatively some stems have low stack heights

http://spank-ind.com/index.php?a=info&do=pro&id=33&tid=1

Funn do one too.

There are others too.

Normal is about 40mm, you should be able to get 30 or 32mm or something.

I had a CB Cobalt headset. Bought for exactly the same reason I needed a lower stack height

The outside of the cups rusted after a couple of months. It doesn't affect the performance of the headset but its not particularly nice to look at.

More seriously the grease kept getting washed out of the bearings after a year the bearings were totally shot. Don't get me wrong I ride in some pretty shitty conditions but a sixty quid headset shouldn't be that badly sealed. In the end I switched back to a Hope headset (the new ones are a bit lower stack than the previous one I had)

bottom cup on mine split on the 2nd ride 🙁

removed and replaced with bottom of another headset, left the top in there and it's still there 2 years later with no appreciable wear/issues.

make of that what you will, but I wouldn't buy another one.

guy i know had one on commencal supreme DH and snapped the bottom cup. it was in pieces.

Something i'v never seen with any other headset.

Identical to richmtb. Checked after a month as was feeling grindy and FULL of crud and rust. Theres basically zero sealing bar the rubber ring that sits around the Crown race (which is pants anyway).

Given that our other bike has a Hope which has been going for 12 months under identical conditions doesn't bode well.

Regards stems, FSA do a 35mm version, or the NC17 Slick Stick

[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=15438 ]Slickstick[/url]

offers a similarr stack height, but a single bolt clamp design so can run the stem slightly short (a hope hed doctor allows for more clamping force). Bit heavy though.

Lastly if you can live with a very short stem the Spank Spike is the lowest stem I've found
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=31675 ]Spike[/url]

I eventually gave up and replaced the CSU so have both the above stems if your interested in buying ?

AFAIK, 2pure(distributors) are [i]very god with warranty items[/i], so that shouldn't an issue but as my pedals died within 6 months, i wouldn't go near any of their kit again.

Not in my case they're not. They've had my Joplin 4 for 9 weeks now despite telling me 3 times that I'd have it back within a couple of days after it broke on the very 1st ride. I wouldn't touch any Crank Bros kit with a bargepole after the experience I've had with this, the products are badly built and the warranty is pathetic.

I have an Iodine SL which seems ok - needed it for the stack height advantages too - it's still smooth - about 6 months use - it's certainly done a few muddy wet rides too and it lives in my garage which is cold and damp when the weather is the same.

How bad / good are Crank Brothers Headsets

Anything [with the possible exception of their multi-tools] with the CB name on it is a big red light for me
They constantly produce fragile/badly designed kit

2Pure are good guys though 🙂

Hi,
Mines a Cobolt SL.Been fine with no rusting or roughness after a year or so of use.Mind you this is my summer race bike so didn't get used through the winter.Looked after and cleaned regurlarly too!
Thanx Max

Thanks for all your comments.

I've decicded to go for an Opium (due to it having bigger bearings than the Cobalt) and run a Hope lower bearing on the bottom and the Directset bearing on top. This should give me good seals where it really counts and the low stack height I really need. Also, with the bearings being identical, if it doesn't last that long, I can always install the other one while the other is away getting replaced under warranty. :o)

Selling the old forks and buying new ones is too expensive an option at the moment.

On another note, I simply won't buy second hand suspension forks as you never know what sort of life they've had. I've seen the results (twice) of a failed fork and it's not something i am willing to risk. Only exception would be if someone i knew was selling some and I know what sort of life they'd had.

Thanks again

VC

VooDooChris - how is this going after a couple of months? Thinking about the same thing for one of our fleet to keep the front end low.

I'm assuming the low stack height of the CB headset is split across both cups so you gain 5mm overall by just using the top cup?

like all there stuff its junk

Have all the Crank Bro lovers gone into hiding?

Well I can say that my Iodine Directset is still going strong... 😉

I don't think much of their other stuff.

Acros AH01 looks another option - 23.4mm stack height vs 20.56 CB and 31.1mm Hope.