The BEST Headset

The Best

The finest, greatest performing headset that I have ever owned is also one of the best values, the Cane Creek S-3. Commonly available for less than $30.

Why not a Chris King headset?

Back in the day of threaded 1" steerers, only two real performance options existed for bicycles, the Campagnolo Record HS-01OR Headset or the Chris King Two Nut headset. Both were fantastic options for both on and off road.

Then came oversized threadless steerers and new developements. Chris King was one first to the punch , but Dia-Compe USA (now Cane Creek) invented the threadless headset (AheadSet®) and holds the patent on the design using the compression ring (U.S. Patent #5095770). Others followed and improved their designs. For many years, the Chris King NoThreadset headset was the only quality choice available, but recently things have changed.

The real Achiles Heal of the Chris King design is the way that the top plate is held concentric to the steerer tube to avoid tresspassing on the Dia-Compe patent. An o-ring is used to hold the top plate centered. The problem with this design is that when strong enough forces are introduced to the fork, the o-ring gives a little and the steerer is pushed off center of the headset. Many people will see wear marks on their aluminium steerers and a wear pattern on the taper of the base and top plate. Wear will also be noticable between the top plate and the first spacer or stem if the delrin shim is not in place (you were wondering what it was for?).

One possible argument for this is that the o-ring acts almost like a shock absorber for the bearings, transfering wear to more cheaply replaced parts. I don't buy it thought.

Keep in mind that I have a lot of respect for what King has done for cycleing and the quality and products that he has brought to market. I just wish that the design for the headset gets fixed.

What is so great about the Cane Creek S-3?

The cheaper option to the Cane Creek S-8, the Cane Creek S-3 is about the greatest value and performer on the market.

• First, the price. This headset is commonly available for around $26, 1/5 the cost of a Chris King headset. An S-8 will set you back around $55, twice the cost.

• Second, the materials. The S-8 uses stainless steel races (SAE 51440C) rather than the S-3's "bearing steel" races (SAE 52100), making it a finer headset in some ways, but at a cost. The S-1 claims to use "steel" races. SAE 52100 is a much stronger bearing matirial than SAE 51440C Stainless steel. The hardness of SAE 52100 is 60-64 HRC, compared to SAE 51440C's 58-62 HRC. The advantage to SAE 51440C Stainless Steel comes when dealing with corrosive environments. This may be a problem for some riders in some terrains, practiceing particular maintanance routines. To find out, run the SAE 52100 bearing headset and see if corrosion can be avoided, if not, go to SAE 51440C stainless. It is a $25 gamble that the better steel will be just fine. The King headset is supplied with SAE 51440C stainless steel bearings.

• Third, the performance. This headset like the King, use quality sealed cartridge bearings to function, but rather than use an o-ring, the cane creek (like many other competitors) use a compression ring to hold the steerer in line with the headset. See Schematic. This design holds solid and does not move like the King design. The increase in performance is noticable.

These three points make the Cane Creek a hands down winner for best headset.

Additional reasons for the S-3's rule

A recent problem experience by the off road cyclist is that frame and fork manufactures are not on the same page all the time and forks will sometimes hit the down tube when spun in a crash. This damages the fork, usually, and sometimes the frame.

Cane Creek has recently released the S-3 Plus 5, The same design as the S-3, but with 5mm more lower stack height to give the forks more clearance.

Chris King has done nothing about this problem.

A word of caution

The Interlok spacers provided with the Cane Creek headsets are total garbage. The only choice in headset spacers should be lathe cut aluminium or carbon fiber. Both Chris King or Wheels Manufacturing will be happy to provide you with what you need.

Avoid saw cut spacers at all costs. The faces are not parallel to each other nor are they perpendicular the the axis. These details reduce head bearing performance dramatically.