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New bike coming up that requires a new inset headset!
Its years since I've had a King headset on any of my bikes, back when they marked your steerer due to the lack of a wedge.
Are the new ones with the grip lock any better or am I as well spending a little less on something else?
you can get great headsets for a fraction of the price; canecreek 40 headsets are chuffing awesome.
there may once have been a time when CK headsets really were better than anything else, and the purchase of one could be justified financially.
but not any more.
5(?) years ago i bough a canecreek s3, for £25. it lived on a few bikes surviving allsorts of abuse. and now it's on my commuter, where it's life is even harder, and has been for 2 years.
it's indestructible, and still running clean and smooth.
it cost £25.
edit: i've just checked, it may be out-of production, but i can still buy a pair of new bearings for £12.
I've got a hope one in my tapered headtube. Its dogshit. It already feels slightly rough. My Kings were always smooth.
Other brands, like jeans may last you but then I don't shop in M&S 😉 
Just put in inset-2 into my Kili Flyer.
Regardless of whether or no they're £100 better that a £30 Cane Creek, they are a lovely bit on engineering and a joy to work with, everything just fits perfectly first time.
Have 3 bikes running on Kings now, never had a problem, kinda buy them on reflex now.
I can't believe you have to ask.
Live my king headsets. I wouldn't go back to anything else. They don't seem to mark my steerer either (am I weird in that respect)?
I always fit Kings to my own bikes but then recommend and fit Hope's to my mates.
I am sure Hope are comparable in quality nowadays, none of my mates have been back for headset work yet.
I do like to have a King in my own bike though, my bikes get special treatment.
I couldn't easily get hold of a King for the 44mm tube on my burner this summer so popped a hope in. So far so good. When the bearing get a bit rough, I'll pop some new ones in which will be a damn sight easier than cleaning / re-greasing a king (which I've done plenty on another bike). Should be able to get a couple of new sets of bearings for the hope before I'm even close to the cost of the King. On balance, I think I'd just go Hope again next time.
I had one fitted to the El Mariachi and it's now on my Burls. Other than it being green it seems to have no other advantage over the FSA, RaceFace or Hope Headsets on my other bikes.
Not great VFM, FSA, Cane Creak and Hope all offer good headsets for much less.
It's hardly a 'sexy' component is it, at very best it's unobtrusive.
"Yeah, I'd never have bagged then KOM without my new headset" said, no one ever.
"Yeah, I'd never have bagged then KOM without my new headset" said, no one ever.
Do you believe most Strava times are legit? I don't.
But if you were to get the KOM with a kingheadset you could say 'I did it and I didn't cut any corners'.
If you want top-end go for a Cane Creek 100 or 110.
I won't go King again after how they changed to grip-lock only after the patent ran out - sort-of admitting that it was a better idea but they were to money-grabbing to pay for the patent even though their headsets were so much.
It makes you wonder how many other technical flaws are in their products for similar reasons.
It's just a couple of bearings FFS...
If you want a perfectly good headset buy an FSA or Cane Creek fit it and get on with your life. If you want a perfectly good headset that's covered in logos so everyone will know you have the financial muscle to pay three times as much for bicycle parts with no functional benefit, then buy a King, and prepare to repeatedly defend your profligate ways to the whole of the internetz...
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hora - Member"Yeah, I'd never have bagged then KOM without my new headset" said, no one ever.
Do you believe most Strava times are legit? I don't.
But if you were to get the KOM with a kingheadset you could say 'I did it and I didn't cut any corners'
Nah, Strava is next to useless off-road, for example I ride with the same mate, week in, week out, we both use Android Smart phones to record our rides - without fail he will have travelled an extra Km and climbed an extra 200m, I chase ranks / KOMs for a laugh, but I don't take it seriously.
I was just after an example to try to illustrate that a headset as long as it functions does add any performance or fun to ride.
Other brands offer headset with perform as well or better than CK in formal reviews and test and also anodically on here and other MTB forums.
Had loads of trouble with older headsets, went the King route years ago and never bought any replacements. Headset's have some on leaps and bounds now for sure, but I still chose King as I know what I'm getting, it works and just keep working.
[i] buy a King, and prepare to repeatedly defend your profligate ways to the whole of the internetz... [/i]
Mine is brown anodise to match the Kashima forks and shock, oh, and the Straitline Racing Bronze seat collar.
Might be in a minority here, but I've always thought that KIng headsets (certainly yhr traditional 1 1/8th steerer ones) were kind of ugly and dated looking.
Like turner guy suggested; Chris King's un-shamedfaced about-turn when the expander wedge patent ran out was an unedifying spectacle, made all the worse by the fact that they dealt with their customers so off handedly when it became apparent that their 'engineering excellence' was revealed to be...bollards.
Any company that holds it's own reputation higher than that of it's customers deserves all it gets.
I have found them value for money. 100 quid for a headset that lasts 12-15+ years being ridden 3 or 4 times a week without much faff is good value. BargainTastic.
Basically it comes down to this... King made a product that they knew perfectly well wasn't fit for purpose and could damage forks, and sold it for a high price. They claimed this was a better design than the normal licenced aheadset design, and that it was the one they'd choose regardless of cost. Then the minute the aheadset patent expired, they changed their design to be the same as everyone else's, thus admitting that they'd been lying all along- and then offered to [i]sell[/i] the upgraded part to existing owners so they could stop their expensive headsets from eating their fork steerers
So **** Chris King, **** them right in the ear.
Meanwhile- Cane Creek S3, FSA Orbit. Bearings might not last as long but they've never eaten my forks.
Chris King were lovely headsets that only occasionally left a light score mark on some of my forks. Going back 15-20 years, they were head and shoulders above the competition. But the rest of the world caught up and now you can buy a perfectly good headset for far less. I know I won't be buying another....
Never had any issue with Hope, aftercare service is fantastic and where they build them is only 20 odd miles away.
If you want a perfectly good headset that's covered in logos so everyone will know you have the financial muscle to pay three times as much for bicycle parts with no functional benefit, then buy a King, and prepare to repeatedly defend your profligate ways to the whole of the internetz...
Or just be happy you'll never need to faff about with your headset
If you can, get King.
The first one i got second hand (off here) was the "older" version wich after use for 5 years only just made a slight mark on the steerer....Not an issue as far i could tell.
Since then i have them in all my bikes, the latest inset 3 in the Ibis was an absolute dream to fit, and after the initial bed in (after a couple of rides) has bee faultless and super smooth.
Go get 1..... Aspire Velotech !.
You should absolutely buy a Chris King headset. But only if you buy matching spurs
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