My FSA cups are worn and need replacing (useless seal)

Any others worth considering?

Chris King?

Chris King – fit and forget.

I like my Hope one, considerably better sealed than my FSA one. Its been in a year now and is perfect still with no tlc required.
Also has the advantage of a split crown race.
I found 2 of the little shims rather than 3 is adequate.

I do like my FSA one too though (orbit MX) though I do clean it out more and will replace with hope as and when required.

Which one is it? Nowt wrong with FSA Orbit XL11 IMO, over 2 1/2 years going strong on my actually gets ridden and raced and commuted on a lot bike. Grease it up once in a while, no problems.

Some of the cheap fsa ones are badly sealed, had one rust out on my gf bike in 6 months, pitted the cups. I use a king so ide say get one but cane creek 110, 40 quid i think still from crc is very good. got one for 30 at the sale for her bike..

Not sure which Orbit model but it’s 3 years old now.

Do ceramic bearings really run dry?

I bought an Orbit XLII for my Winter bike, it never made it through the whole Winter mind
The bottom cup just rusted up

I’ve never had any issues with Hopes or Kings

yeah it’s the bottom cup that’s fried

Hope. I live in a place muddier than a very muddy thing, hence I still have Trailrakers on…….headset has done 4200km since fitting. I also hose the mud off after each bike ride, and laugh in the face of blasting my bike with inappropriately aimed jets of pressurised water.

It’s my bike, after all 😀

Just took my Hope headset apart for the first time in 3 years as I was putting new forks on. Was working fine and still had some grease in the bearings. Lifted the seals, stuck some more grease in. Hopefully keep me going for another couple of years.

I live in Scotland so it does get very muddy

Hopes defo yes (18 months and still going), recently picked up a Cane Creek 110 for £40 from CRC after a link was posted here … been a month and hasn’t died … so its doing better than the POS Crank Brothers Cobalt that preceded it !!!!

Bitter much !

get a neoprene bottom cup cover. Only cost £3 and work very well.

Just wish I could get one for a 1.5″ headset.

My late-2006 Hope is still running smoothly despite absolutely no love. I had a quick look when I changed forks last year and it was fine.

Cane Creek 110 SL on my Mojo for nearly two years has been through loads of crap in Wales, but open it up and the bearings are still smooth running and clean as a bell 🙂

You say the cup’s damaged- was it not a cartridge headset? The FSAs with loose bearings are very poorly sealed in my experience.

My MX on the other hand is still the best sealed headset I’ve owned, way better than my Cane Creek IS3 and Hope ones. Only headset I’ve had that’s made it into a second winter in fact but the Cane Creek one didn’t even make it through the first, which was disappointing.

Acros.

I don’t use anything else now.

Their bottom brackets are no better than anybody elses though.

i had a Campag Record headset on a previous MTB, very little sealing, but easy to regrease to keep it running smoothly. Lasted years with a regular pump of fresh grease.

Hope. Did three years of winter riding mostly through the parts destroying “Woodbury grit” and just replaced one bearing!

Cane Creek S3

very well made, very well sealed, £22.

mine is now in it’s 3rd frame. bearings still fine.

Cane Creek S3 for me too. Just keeps going, needs no attention.

what ever you get, make sure you strip it and grease the hell out of it with some decent before first use… Most factory jobs skimp a little… Most reliable headset i’ve ever had was a M:part cartridge jobby which was about £25 eight years ago. It has been on my commuter which lives outside, and is still good as new. About the only thing on it that’s still good! I’ve had Kings, Hopes, RaceFaces and CC110s all fall to bits (literally) but these days I just resign myself to the fact that things like headsets just last much better if they are looked after…

I’ve got some nasty corrosion going on in my one year old Acros. It’s just press fit industial bearings so I can easily replace them but since it came with a two year guarantee I’m a bit miffed. The new version has stainless bearings and is five year but mine had only a 2 year guarantee and judging by the state of the bearings they are non stainless.

My Hope was okay after 2 years – the sealing is not great but since the bearings are stainless the just needed a clean and regrease.

I had a King which was good for five years but scored my steerer tube.

FSA MX Pro was good for two years, and Orbit Extreme was good for five (but only just).

All of the above was with regular clean and grease – every 6-12 months.

Changed from Chris King to Hope, as the King tends to mark steerer tubes (as messiah says above). Still perfect after two years.

U can use a King Griplock topcap now, proper jobbie, wont score the steerer, ive got one its good..

Chris King or Hope.

Job done.

Aireal – have had it since the day the very first 456SS came out.

Hope Mk1 headset, been in there 5 years still on the same bearings. And it was s/h when I bought it.
I do have a lizard skin shock boot offcut round the bottom cup which keeps the spray out.

I’d recommend Hope too. Even when the cartridge bearings do get a bit gritty, Superstar are doing replacements relatively cheap. Not too sure how much genuine Hope replacements are. Plenty of offers around on Hope headsets, usually for £60 ish.

old king and new griplock…..works perfect and no marks on steerer tube..