http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SALSA-MAMASITA-29ER-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-ROCKSHOX-SID-XT-19-FRAME-RACEFACE-XT-BRAKES-/231392160052?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item35e00c2934

Looks like a tapered fork with a non tapered head tube.
But it can’t be.
But it does look odd.

Whassup with it?

And why so many photos that are hardly any different?

It does indeed look to me as though it’s a conventional 1 1/8th head tube with a tapered fork and the black ring you see between the crown of the fork and the bottom of the head tube is a black bearing which is kind of sitting into the bottom of the head tube as it has a chamfer on it that would normally sit in the lower headset cup.

ie death trap!

He’s got really good feedback though, and looks like he trades a lot of cycling stuff…. I can’t work it out

I knew I had seen black headset bearings somewhere: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cane-Creek-Headset-Bearing-1-5-52-mm-CBAA0006K-/131374263267?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item1e96842be3

edit: saw it was a shop. Worth emailing him? Ask him if he’ll do you a deal on the forks 😀

either an external 1.5 lower cup or maybe a refitted steerer (if they can still do that) ?

either an external 1.5 lower cup or maybe a refitted steerer (if they can still do that) ?

You won’t be able to refit a steerer and that doesnt look like a lower cup to me.

OEM fork to aesthetically fit a frame with a 44mm head tube (but 1 1/8th straight steerer).

Mate mas a similar set up.

Looks terrible.

dbl pst, srry

I think this is the same frame and there’s definitely(?) something more below the ebay headtube than this one

http://s132.photobucket.com/user/BOCKO10/media/hobbies/IMG_0446.jpg.html

*changes mind – nothing extra underneath. must have a normal steerer and is pretty fugly*

I think it’s legit. The black Crank Bros headsets do indeed look just like a single sealed bearing (I’ve fitted a few in the past) – the bottom cup fitted to a Mamasita (which appears to have an externally butted headtube), may give the appearance of a visible sealed bearing. Does that version of the Mamasita have a standard 1 1/8″ head tube?

edit: this is a crank bros:

Does look familiar but the fork definitely looks tapered and too big.

Definitely a normal Crank Bros headset, like I used to have:

Like sillyoldman says, it’s probably a weird OEM fork with a 1 1/8 steerer for a large headtube.

1.5″ lower bearing definitely won’t even get close to an old style head tube. Must be a Crank Bros headset, top looks similar and has a blue ring which looks like a crank brothers feature.

Stumped and only thing could be oversize crown with 1 1/8th steerer.

I had a CB headset on my Soul for a few weeks before it rusted – the skinny headtube and tiny lower cup looked all out of proportion with the fork crown

Maybe the headset came without a crown race. Is that unusual? 😉

I dunno wtf is going on with that steerer/headset but if I were hoping to sell that as a bike trader, I’d better take better actual detailed close up photos.