Designed especially for those of you who must jump things, drop off of things, and generally run into things very, very hard. The SteelSet is the strongest headset Chris King has ever made
Submitted by
Pamela Pivo
a Weekend Warrior
from Denver, co Date Reviewed: May 28, 2005
Favorite Trail:
the flute
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$110.00
Purchased At:
Performance Bicycles
Strengths:
Superb machinery, seals, looks, steering, quality and finish.
Weaknesses:
Challenging to install!
Similar Products Used:
Race Face Diabolus.
Bike Setup:
Kona Stab Primo with DH kit and Fox 40 RC2 fork.
Bottom Line:
Great headset with no competition.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Rick
a Weekend Warrior
from North Van, Canada Date Reviewed: January 2, 2005
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Strengths:
Typical Chris King product. Excellent seals/bearings.
Weaknesses:
A real bugger to install. If the cups extend past the internal flanges in your head tube, you're screwed. There is no way to remove this headset to move it to another frame.
Similar Products Used:
Chris King no thread head sets in my other two bikes.
Bottom Line:
Great headset does what it's intended for. Good solution for ovalized headtubes however, if you intend transferring it to another frame make sure you'll be able to remove it when the time comes.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
jeff hollowell
a Downhiller
from sterling hts, mi 48312 Date Reviewed: January 18, 2004
Duration Product Used:
2 Years
Price Paid:
$130.00
Strengths:
super strong, good bearings, sealed very well, extremely well machined
Weaknesses:
price
Bike Setup:
02 Azonic Evolution, 02 Marzocchi Dirt jumper, XT discs, Mavic 231, Race Face North Shore DH cranks, Signiture DH BB
Bottom Line:
After a year and a half of riding dirt jumps, street/urban, and mountain cross my the tope tube was ovaled out by .012"(12 thousanths of an inch) but the headset was perfectly round. i haven't needed to shim it or anything it stays tight all the time. so it has saved me from buying a new frame.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Chris
a Downhiller
from Australia Date Reviewed: December 22, 2003
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$143.00
Purchased At:
Cambria
Strengths:
It's strength is it's strength. Pushes an inch into your frame. Gives flared head-tubes new life. Will last longer than any bike. Easy to maintain.
Weaknesses:
Some might say weight and/or price, but if you want to get the strongest headset there is, it's worth it. It's still MUCH cheaper than a new frame (which was a possibility if this didn't work).
Similar Products Used:
Ringle Slammer Jammer, FSA Pig. Both are now in my parts bin.
Bike Setup:
Mountain Cycle Shockwave, Marzocchi Z1 Drop-offs ( great fork but get the through axle only, see my review), Mavic 321s, Hayes, home-made 34 tooth MRP. Wonderful bike.
Bottom Line:
I have a five year old Mountain Cycle Shockwave, ridden hard. About two years ago I flared the head tube a little and put in a Coke can shim half way around the bottom cup. Like all non-permanent solutions, it eventually failed. I contacted Mountain Cycle for advice and they suggested a Chris King Steelset. Great advice. It took me and two bike mechanics to get it in there, (one of the hardest presses they've done) but it is extremely solid and there are no more creaks. Of course, let me ride it for two years and get back to you, but it saved me thousands on a new frame. I thank the visionary at Chris King that ignored weight and material trends and thought "I'm gonna design the world's strongest headset!" and did it. Huckers, jumpers and DHers, get it!
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Brandon
a Downhiller
from New York, NY Date Reviewed: February 2, 2003
Favorite Trail:
The Next One
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$150.00
Purchased At:
Supergo
Strengths:
Looks awesome, totally bulletproof, 10 year warranty
Weaknesses:
Since the flanges are so huge, either you have to get your headtube reamed (which decreases strength, or buy a frame with an externally machined headtube, which are kinda hard to find, a little heavy.
Similar Products Used:
FSA Pig
Bike Setup:
Karpiel Apocolypse, Super Monsters, Atomlab Ballistic pedals
Bottom Line:
Thois headset is the best I've ever come across. You will never break this headset no matter what you did. Buy this headset, and forget about your headset forever.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
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