I’ve purchased the Arc and I’m looking for a new headset.

I have Chris King, Hope and a Cane Creek 40 in the basket. Chris King seems too much unless someone can convince me it’s the right choice. The heart says Hope and the head says Cane Creek, anything else I should consider before I follow my head. Or heart.

I’ve always gone Hope in the past and now it’s late and I’m spending way too much time over thinking this, thought I’d reach out and see what you all think.

Thanks.

If it was your money i’d choose the Chris King.

If it was mine I’d chose the Hope. I’ve had Hope and CC and the Hope seems much better sealed and thus bearings lasts way longer… and potential matchy matchy with colours.

I faced the same dilemma, albeit on a steel frame rather than a Yeti (which I couldn’t justify). I opted for Hope. Durability, mix and match top and bottom and price were all deciding factors and I figured Hope was the best bang for my buck.

XTR build = Chris King

XT build = Cane Creek

SLX build = Hope

🤷🏻‍♂️

I’m disappointed with the lower bearing on my Sentinel which has a Hope headset. I do ride through all sorts of crap but after 15 months the lower bearing is gritty (top one is fine). I was expecting it to do better than it has – I’ve had a Cane Creek 40 last a lot longer and still be smooth.

So if the Cane Creekmone is a decent saving I’d just go with one of those personally. I got the Hope half price and glad I didn’t pay full price for it.

I’ve got a Cane Creek in my Yeti. Over 2 years on and trouble free.

i went hope on arc, got the turquoise (probably jungle products deadstock surplus from the carbon chameleon)
full set of crc/wiggle, sold out now, but a few pop up on ebay..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=165855051848&_sacat=0

I have Hope in my previous gen ArcC. Been there for 12 years and still fine

My son’s build got a Nukeproof Horizon – build quality seems excellent. Rubber seals for upper and lower too. I’ll buy same for any future bikes. Though I’m not a Yeti owner anymore. #poor
Canecreek in my RM, lower bearing lasted 5 minutes.

If it was your money i’d choose the Chris King.

This.

After all, you spent the money on a Yeti, may as well go big!

I’d never use anything other than CK for headsets, hubs and BBs. I’ve NEVER had to replace a bearing in almost 20 years of use.

Not much help but jealous of the Arc!

If you can afford the king, you already know the answer

I picked up one of those Wiggle deal Hope Turquoise ones’ a few months back with the view to potentially get an Arc – still don’t have one yet. It doesn’t seem like an exact match to the shade Yeti uses

Wolf tooth premium headsets have a lifetime warranty, pricey enough to not look out of place on a Yeti, shame you can’t just buy an upper Chris king for flashiness when pop something cheaper in for the lower 😁

I’ve NEVER had to replace a bearing in almost 20 years of use.

I have a CK internal headset bearing in the lower cup of my Enduro, and every time I pull the fork out or service the headset, it’s like that scene at the end of Pulp Fiction when Vincent and Jules open the briefcase. I’ve no idea how it manages it, but I swear it will still be shiny and smooth running at the heat death of the sun

Can’t see how it’ll help you in any way, but I’ve got Hope on my ARC.

I have one each of those in different bikes. Chris King is a no brainer. Followed by Hope, then cane creek.
I’ve replaced the bearings in my Cane creek, but never in my hope or ck.
The Chris King is sooo bloody expensive though, but as has been said, if you’ve forked out for an Arc, might as well go all the way

Mango Chris king on turquoise yeti here.

Not sure of current Chris king prices but mine was about £130 , so not crazily more expensive than hope in the grand scheme of things.

I’m not a dentist

King headsets are a step up from hope.

Shame that Reset racing only do press in headsets, as they are a step up again from King.

My cane creek lower on my Orange was orange coloured (ie rusty and fhlooked) after a year or two. Swapped for a Hope. Not a peep from it in the 4-5 years since fitting it.
No idea about Chris Bling – I’m not a dentist.

Thanks all, plumped for the Hope, if the Chris King was circa £130 I may have gone for it but £170 is the cheapest I could find, not sure I can justify that. Tyres next…………..

Are you going for 2.6″ or something smaller? I think the Yeti complete builds use 2.6″

smaller, no need for 2.6 on my routes

Of those three I’ve only had bother with a CC lower bearing. The hope had had by far the most abuse and is flawless after 8 years. CK was also flawless and the bearings come up sparkling even when they look like the pulp fiction scene described above.

Teadrinker do post a pic of your bike when it’s built up

I’ve got my finger hovering over the button to buy an arc frame…

Prices are very good on leisurelakes for them, if you weren’t looking there already

I will do @petefromearth if I can manage to add them!!

Just struggling with tyre choice but so far I have Sid 120s, Hope x2 brakes and Hope Fortus 26 wheels which I might change to carbon at some point. GX carbon cranks and GX AXS and an AXS reverb, I went full tilt on it and way over budget. Oops.

Mine was from Biketart, Sigma had some frames in the sale too. Start fitness had some full builds heavily discounted.

Sounds very similar to mine, I have turquoise frame ‘cos, er, Yeti and I used a Fox 34 Factory 130mm as they were cheap at wiggle. Got Hope Tech4 E4 front and X2 rear, GX AXS mech/Shifter, AXS post but then went Hope Headset/Bars/Stem/Crankset, which took a lot of willpower to not order in purple. I’m using Roval Control 6B carbon wheels and Specialized Ground Control 2.4 tyres, although it’ll take 2.6.

Tyres I’m running a DHR2 3c 2.4 wt & a minion SS on rear, Definately not xc but couldn’t wish for any more grip, even thinking dhr2 over Assegai for a dry summer of enduros

@teadrinker

Having dithered about buying a frame from biketart like you and building it up I’ve just ordered one of the discount XT builds from Sigma! Not really my style to order OTP but couldn’t get anywhere near that price. NBD incoming!!

Nbd is always exciting, especially with a Yeti! I was so tempted to get one of the full builds but I knew I’d end up changing it. I’m quite please with this one so far I think, I’ve been quite lucky shopping around for bargains and the eBay gods have been good to me!

Really interested to hear about these ARC builds.

When I got mine it was quicker to get a complete build. I thought I’d change quite a few bits but in the end have only made a couple of tweaks. Had mine 2.5 years now and still love it.

Here’s mine. Bought a frame set and parts rather than full build due to the fact I was using my trade contacts for the frame and a lot of the parts, so it only(?) ended up costing £4k. The shop wasn’t prepared to discount bikes at the time due to shortages.

What sort of frame protection were you all planning to do? I see invisframe does kits for £100, but there’s also a kit from Yeti for £50. Heli tape seems to be more expensive than I remember, for the DIY option.

I bit the bullet and bought the invisiframe, they were doing a 20% discount at the time.

For me I nearly always ride from home so little need for protection against those sort of transport scratches etc
But I have protection from things flicked up on the down tube by means of a front mudguard, then shuttle guard (Yeti) and running a tool bottle in the lower cage.

If I had gone with a protection film I’d likely have gone invisiframe

You cam also get a carbon frame guard from rock guardz (spelling?)