Hi all,

Want to try a -2° angle headset on my Pipedream Moxie.

Now the big question is which brand.

Works or Superstar? Experiences?

Price difference is about 10 quid, posted.

TgaTha

superstar

From experience of both , I’d go for superstar

Thanks

Any specific reason for the Superstar?

Well made, good sealing, bearings have lasted ages on multiple superstar parts I have from headsets to hubs.

Works components bearings and sealing is terrible. Bearings last all of a couple of wet rides. I also found cup fit in the frame a bit on the tight side.

Not tried the SS ones but had a works one and wouldn’t get another. Bearings went graunchy very quickly and the cups were so soft that when I took it off my bike they cut up so badly that it was unusable

SS then!

Anyone tried to install one with the freezer method?

Have a homemade headset press but I bet the cups will twist when inserting

Anyone happen to know which superstar slackerizer will fit a Canyon Strive CF?

Interesting opinions on Works here. Considering one myself.

Thing I would like is standard bearing sizes, and by standard I mean the same found in a lot of Hope tapered headsets (and also happens to match some Superstar stuff and On-One headsets, hence I’ve managed to keep with a single batch of headset bearings that fit all my bikes).

Not sure what the sizes are with Works, or the Superstar.

On fitting and twisting issues, I’ve got a press that’s a rotate type which has a bearing kind of thing for the press face that should reduce twisting. Not sure if that’s okay though as there’s still potentially a small amount of rotation through the bearing to the press face.

I’m happy with my Works one.

Bearings holding up well over this winter and no signs of them getting rough.

I fitted after putting the cups in the freezer and they went in pretty easily with a bit of grease and a rubber mallet.

Yep, likewise with Works. Basically they get my money for coming up with the idea, rather than Superstar getting my money for copying it. The Works headsets use cane creek bearings, nothing wrong with ’em imo, the top bearings seem to gather water though because of the flat top so they definitely die faster than most bearings. I was a pretty early adopter so I’ve had them in various bikes for years now and I reckon they go through bearings maybe 1/3d faster than most headsets, I can live with that.

Basically they get my money for coming up with the idea, rather than Superstar getting my money for copying it.

Works just copied the Saar headsets.

Eh, no they did not. Works’ headsets were on sale before he made his, but only for wider headtubes- 1.5s and maybe tapers. He developed his own because there wasn’t a 34mm option on sale anywhere.

I’ve not tried the one from Superstar but my Works -1.5deg is still running smoothly after nearly 18 months of use.

Another happy Works customer, as said the top bearing can wear a bit prematurely but it’s a cheap and easy job to replace. Great bit of kit.

Wouldnt buy from SS out of principle.

Wouldnt buy from SS out of principle.

which is?

Not tried the SS ones but had a works one and wouldn’t get another. Bearings went graunchy very quickly and the cups were so soft that when I took it off my bike they cut up so badly that it was unusable

Agree with this on the Works. The top cup is also really tight to get the bearings into, to the point I have to use a headset press to get them in, and play has recently developed between the bottom cup and the bearing. Hoping replacing the bearing will sort it, but I doubt it. Wouldn’t buy another.

which is?

Personal and doesn’t need to be aired on here. Suffice to say I think Neil is a piss-weasel of the highest order.

Hi guys – I was pointed in this direction and have read through some of the comments, never nice to hear that people are disappointed with your product so I want to address some of the points:

– Sizing being tight – We manufacture to a tolerance that is around the middle of that specified by manufacturers such as Cane Creek (given to frame manufacturers for their headtube sizing) – We are actually a little smaller than Hope and some others. The problem here is that you may have a frame manufactured to the lower end of tolerance for its headtube while somebody else may have a frame that is towards the higher end – We need to provide a product to fit these and everything inbetween and resist turning during use, hope that makes sense.

– Soft material – We use certified 6082 (Essentially UK spec 6061) for our headcups, this is the grade of aluminium most commonly used in the industry for headsets but of course if the headcup is tight and it is removed damage can take place, for example we supply many WC DH teams with one using the same reach adjust headset all season having removed and re-installed regularly for different tracks with no issues.

– Bearing quality – If anybody here feels cheated by the longevity of the bearings in their headset please contact me, a few weeks is not acceptable but most get over a season from the same set as has been said above but please do get in touch if you have an issue as we receive maybe 10 emails a year regarding early failure of bearings – If we don’t know about your issue we cant help with it.
Our bearings are supplied by one of the largest OEM suppliers in the world so the same as those fitted to many other brands but I will take this on board and look into options if available (we are just too small to custom spec a bearing)

Poor sealing – I wont make any argument that this is not as good as it could be – the problem here is we sell maybe 15 different combinations of upper headcup, some are offset some are concentric and the cover needs to seal them all, we cannot cover the entire cups face like with a ‘standard’ headset as the bearing is offset – I hope that makes sense? –  so this is a compromised situation where we supply a ‘one fits all’ cover. This is more than likely contributing to any issues with bearing life so again something we need to look into to see if improvements can be made but they have to be realistic to implement for such a small business as ourselves – We cannot go down the route of multiple custom seals etc.

– Bearings being tight in cup – this is deliberate for the smaller bearing and we machine removal slots in the backside of the cup to allow for removal. Somebody mentioned the lower bearing in their headset being loose which is not usual as even if the bearing is very loose in the headcup it should still function as normal when tight due to the chamfered seat – It may indicate a different issue.

– Did we ‘copy’ saar? It might be almost 10 years ago now that we made our first headsets, around the time of K9 bikes if people remember those, so predating Saar by quite some time but being realistic I don’t consider Superstar to be copying us either – The bicycle only has so many parts and so many ways of doing things, the only thing I will note is that we do have a much larger range (1.0 1.5 and 2.0 degree etc) and a decent understanding of geometry and what fits what, our gear is chosen by some of the top racers around the world (YTMob etc) out of choice (we don’t have the money to pay them to use it) and if you have issues I want to hear about them.

I hope that has covered most of the points raised and its unlikely I will get time to drop in here to reply quickly so if anybody has any issues or questions they want to raise please do send us an email and within 24hrs somebody will get back to you (probably me if its a techie question…..)

I still remember Rick asking us over at the downhill forum on ridemonkey what angle headsets we’d want if he went ahead and produced them. I think that must have been 2008ish. I know a mate bought one of the first sets of cups they produced for his 2007 Ironhorse Sunday anyway (it was probably not much more than a year old at the time). Bought through Readytoridecycles.
There was one other guy I remember from back then (from Chile maybe) who was making single lower angled cups and was adamant they were working out just fine for him just using a standard top cup with them. We were scepticle. But still not as daft as some of the ropey things we did to alter the geometry on our bikes back then. 😉
It doesn’t really matter who was first Works made the comittment and are still offering the best range out there.
Pretty sure the first pair of HT Nano pedals I ever saw and bought came from readytoride too. I still have them in use today. I still love those old pedals.

Fair play for that Rick. I have emailed you.

I’ve bought from both companies. Not head sets admittedly.

Never had a problem with either.

Anyway…. Can’t ask for a better response from a company than that shown above, surely? 👍

Big props for Rick to show up and stand for his product.

I’ll have that in consideration

@rickatworkscomponents – whilst your product didn’t work for me (based on a sample size of precisely one), it’s great to see a manufacturer engaging directly and taking on comments. Thanks for taking the time

Very timely thread. Are experiences similar of the reach adjust headsets?

Very timely thread. Is experience of the reach adjust models similar?

I’ve got a works one in and it’s on its second frame. No issues and made locally.

While we’re talking about angle headsets – is there a neat way of finding the exact front/middle of your headtude, to get the cup alignment bang on?

I used a piece of string tied around the seatpost with a small weight on the end. Helped get me close enough to mark a fairly accurate centre with a dry wipe marker.

My works components headset fitted fine, the bottom bearing did separate open quite easily just from test fitting but I would have popped the seals anyway and filled with decent grease. Lasted all winter and still ok on the rigid singlespeed which does tend to eat lower headset bearings.

My works components -2 degree headset works a treat. The bearings lasted around 6 months but I dont think that’s particuarly bad when I reguarly wash the bike with a jet wash and had never regreased them.

A new set of bearings were something like £10 delivered and the customer service is excellent.

Fitting isn’t the easiest first time round and took a bit of trial and error but I got there in the end using the tried and tested string round the seat tube and rubber mallet method.

I have both makes on a couple of bikes and both work ok for me.

Cups rotating upon install? Not in my experience. My usual diy bar and repair washers press has a chunky slice of nylon as an additional washer either end which may be providing some braking?

I’m as anal about lining up and centring headset logos as some are about valves and tyre logos.  Based on the many headsets I’ve installed, if there is rotation you’d need to really be looking for it to find it, cos it’s not visible to the eye…

My “proper” press wanted to rotate the cups- it’s done that with normal headsets and messed up the logos too. So these days I use my universal installation tool instead

Hi,

A bit of resurrection of old thread, but my -2 SSC Headset is just on the way.

Had a bit of rummage on SSC website and around wider internet as well but haven’t found any fitting instruction of that little device.

Apart of standard headset fitment stuff is there anything else I need to be aware of? Is there any instruction attached to the headset?

Just asking as CC Angleset seems to be having much more coverage including some long winded videos on YT…

Cheers!
I.

It’s really just the same as a normal headset, except that:

1. You have to get the cups oriented correctly to get the right angle through the headtube. (Assuming you’re going for a slacker head angle, the hole in the upper cup needs to be toward the saddle, and the hole in the lower pointing forwards)

2. You have to get the cups lined up correctly with your frame. Both cups have a machined line (or do on my SS slackerizer) which you need to line up with the center line of your frame.

After that it all just goes together as normal. Any videos online for other angled headsets probably cover this ground and it’ll apply just the same to the SS one.

Hi,

Yes, going slacker.

Thanks for the tips, hope it will arrive in time before weekend 🙂

Cheers!
I.

It’s an intelligence test. If you can’t work it out, you probably shouldn’t be attempting to fit it….

For people waiting on our of stock size, I’ve hot about 800 cups going to the anodiser next week. The big 5 axis has been busy making other people’s parts and I’ve not managed to squeeze them in for a while.

Neil Superstar Components

I’m considering one, but I am not sure if I can get one in my frame. It’s an integrated headset and the bottom one is the larger bearing to fit the tapered bit of my fork. I can’t see how it would, I’d need a frame that takes external cups wouldn’t I?

I won’t make integrated bearing angle headsets as the tolerances they make the bearing fit to is far to wide for a safe fit of an actual pressfit headset. You may be able to get them elsewhere but I’m not getting involved

Neil Superstar Components