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Home | Product Reviews | Headset | FSA Orbit DL | ||||
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Submitted by
BJBucheron
a Weekend Warrior
from Montreal
Date Reviewed: 7/26/2003 1:48:23 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $30 |
| Purchased At: | Gianella |
| Strengths: | didn't find any... laser etched graphics? |
| Weaknesses: | -lots, lots,lots of play -fills with mud -rusts -creaking |
| Similar Products Tried: | cheapo aheadset which came stock on my bike |
| Bike Setup: | Specialized Rockhopper, xtr brakes, raceface cranks, the rest is stock |
| Bottom Line: | the Aheadset which came stock on my bike was better than this FSA headset. It had not play at all and after one year and a half of use the grease inside of it was still white. Whith this Fsa headset, after 2 months of use, it started creaking. The mecanic said it was full of dust and rust. I didnt liked that headset from the begining so i've decided to changed it for a pig dh pro, should be better than this orbit dl. Get yourself a better haedset than this POS. |
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Submitted by
Nathan
a Cross Country Rider
from Salt Lake CIty
Date Reviewed: 5/6/2003 8:11:52 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Bobsled |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | Came with bike |
| Strengths: | Umm...It's a head set and it helps me steer...sometimes. |
| Weaknesses: | Everything? Crappy bearings, difficult to adjust, can't find the exact spot, heavy for you weight weenies. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Something Aheadset, test rode a Trek with a Chris King... |
| Bike Setup: | KHS Alite 1000, XT drivetrain, Strongarm II cranks, Manitou Six Deluxe fork |
| Bottom Line: | Crappiest headset possibly ever built. If you want a low end headset, don't buy FSA...Buy Cane Creek or Aheadset or something...Or just spend the extra 20 bucks and get a decent midrange headset, I know I will be soon. As that one guy said, it doesn't do any good if it's low cost but it doesn't work... |
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Submitted by
LOUIS URFER
a Cross Country Rider
from PORTOLA HILLS, CA USA
Date Reviewed: 12/29/2002 12:12:07 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | SANTA ANA MTNS |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $25 |
| Purchased At: | SUPERGO |
| Strengths: | low price |
| Weaknesses: | Quite a few weaknesses. You can feel the bearings, the dirt skirt is made of cheap rubber, it mis-aligns which causes the bearings and bearing holders to get crushed. Hard to dial-in so that it turns smooth. There are better headsets out there, spend a little more and get those. |
| Bike Setup: | Hardtail, Manitou's XC setup. |
| Bottom Line: | Crappy product. Spend a little more and get a higher end model. Cheap/Low prices don't mean much if the product doesnt work right. |
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Submitted by
Stenchy
a Cross Country Rider
from Florida
Date Reviewed: 11/9/2002 6:08:45 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $20 |
| Purchased At: | supergo |
| Strengths: | strong, goodlooking |
| Weaknesses: | none thus far |
| Similar Products Tried: | aheadset |
| Bike Setup: | 2002 Specialized Rockhopper, modified abit |
| Bottom Line: | This headset is just fine. It gets the job done and I have had no problems with it what so ever. Who wants to pay 100 bucks for a Chris King that does the same exact job. The FSA might weigh abit more but who can really tell. Function over form please. I see many cyclists out there with all the right gear and setup, but they cant ride for poop. Riding comes down to the rider not the machine he payed to much for. |
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Submitted by
mech mech
a Weekend Warrior
from GA
Date Reviewed: 11/22/2001 7:47:48 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only |
| Strengths: | works |
| Weaknesses: | not for poser. perhaps the concept of aheadset and threadless stem is too complicated for some. |
| Bottom Line: | i can't believe one of the guys below is saying this. TOP CAP IS OFF AND YOU CAN'T USE YOUR BIKE??? what the hell do you think your stem is there for? the stem is held in place not by teh topcap but by the friction between the stem and the steerer tube! oh yeah, the conix thing may bot work, that's probably why your headset is loose--because your top cap cannot hold when you try to adjust the headset. but once it's adjusted, you can basically lose the topcap (until you need to adjust it again). |
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Submitted by
Mathew
a Cross Country Rider
from Oxford, England
Date Reviewed: 7/15/2001 1:49:25 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Cant remember |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $24 |
| Purchased At: | SuperGo.com |
| Strengths: | +Strong and smoth. Dont give a toss on what the others say. +Hasnt given me a problem. Youll simply forget about it! +Great value. A perfect place to save money without sacrificing performance. +Great look on my bike. |
| Weaknesses: | -Slightly hevier than some other headsets. -Probably wont last as much as other sealed bearings headset do. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Another FSA Orbit (im not sure if its DL or XL) my friend has. Its worked for him fine for a time now. |
| Bike Setup: | GT Arrowhead. '01 RockShox Psylo XC. Kore B-52 stem. XTR v-brakes. SRAM chain, cassette and rear derailleur. And my Orbit DL headset of course. |
| Bottom Line: | First of all, im not going to talk the bullshˇt the other reviews said. I bought this stem because after riding for a few years with my GT block stem I decided to buy a kore B-52 stem I bought this headset with it because its probably the best place to save money without sacrificing performance. And guess what? it turned out to be the perfect complement to my B-52. They are kinda best friends now. Ive been riding with my Orbit DL for more than 6 months now and apart from looking great and strong it hasnt given me a problem. I dont think ill be changing headset for a while. |
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Submitted by
Petro T
a Downhiller
from Chatham
Date Reviewed: 7/6/2001 4:26:46 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | My backyard! |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $18 |
| Purchased At: | eBay |
| Strengths: | Not strong! |
| Weaknesses: | The Product itself is weak! |
| Similar Products Tried: | Nothing similar, this headset seems to, well, kind of suck! |
| Bike Setup: | Oryx Equipe Gold, XTR, Marzocchi Z3 QR20. |
| Bottom Line: | Well, I have ridden with this headset becuase.... Well, I was not smart enough to buy a good one! Do not get me wrong, it's a good product, if you don't ride hard and never get muddy! Broke after about 4.5months, just got gritty, and wasn't smooth at all near end! |
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Submitted by
Brandon
a Racer
from Garland, Tx.
Date Reviewed: 6/29/2001 10:00:59 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Cameron Park (Waco) |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $30 |
| Purchased At: | pricepoint |
| Strengths: | cheap, black and shiny |
| Weaknesses: | caged bearings, gets loose |
| Similar Products Tried: | really old Aheadset |
| Bike Setup: | Trek 9.9, Manitou, XT |
| Bottom Line: | This thing lasted me a year with no problems, which is long enough I guess for something I should have paid more attention to when spec'ing my bike. After installing a new Mars, my friend at the shop couldn't get it to be loose enough to turn freely or tight enough to keep the fork from rocking. I may have overtightened it at some point, but then again all the cheap tiny little rings and seals and bearings didn't exactly help. If you're going to buy a headset, buy an expensive one that is sealed or a cheaper Aheadset that is heavy and durable like my old one. |
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Submitted by
A.S>
a Downhiller
from manlius, ny
Date Reviewed: 6/19/2001 6:52:27 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | skytop |
| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Price Paid: | $69 |
| Purchased At: | supergo |
| Strengths: | Cheap, like the top cap |
| Weaknesses: | low quality |
| Similar Products Tried: | wtb, aheadset |
| Bike Setup: | schwinn 6, z1, hayes |
| Bottom Line: | tooooooo cheap. Buy something else. I changed my fork and now the headset creaks. It's scary. I need a new one. Go sealed if you can. FSA MAKES CRAP. I own a BB too and it's garbage. Never buying FSA again. Late.... |
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Submitted by
tamas boros
a Cross Country Rider
from Cortlandt Manor Ny USA
Date Reviewed: 6/8/2001 12:11:57 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | blue mountain |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $20 |
| Purchased At: | supergo.com |
| Strengths: | looks good, cheap.. |
| Weaknesses: | poor top.. |
| Similar Products Tried: | non |
| Bike Setup: | jamis dakar '98 frame ,marzocchi z2x-fly , race-face chanks,and mixed shimano xt-xtr,sram 9.0. |
| Bottom Line: | I knew its not ganna be the best part of my bike,but after 200 miles ..????ahhhhh... Top cap just sux.Every 10 miles i had to readjust.Can't stayed tight !!And after a few readjust ,this conix top just broken .I really can't use anymore .I can buy an extra cap,but I think i going to go for a new headset. ... If u think about use this for rocky stuff .......FORGET IT !!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Submitted by
Raymond
a Cross Country Rider
from State College, PA
Date Reviewed: 5/31/2001 6:02:05 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $38 |
| Purchased At: | SuperGo |
| Strengths: | none |
| Weaknesses: | poor bearings poor cups poor top cap |
| Similar Products Tried: | 1997 FSA Orbit DL |
| Bike Setup: | Gunnar Rockhound with a SX-R |
| Bottom Line: | I bought this headset based on the great experience I had with a FSA headset I purchased in 1997. (see review below) Well this one was a disappointment. All of the parts are of a lower quality than the 1997 one I have. The bearings are extremely poor. The bearing races are flimsily and poorly constructed they are practically worthless. Even after replacing the bearings with better ones purchased locally the headset still was junk. I gave up and am having a new one installed. Do not buy a Orbit DL unless it is NOS from 1997 or so. |
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Submitted by
ed
a Cross Country Rider
from buffalo grove
Date Reviewed: 5/29/2001 9:10:50 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | george wythe |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $25 |
| Purchased At: | pricepoint |
| Strengths: | Cheap. Good looking. So far it stands up to the use, not abuse. Good customer service. |
| Weaknesses: | Directions. Online directions and directions sent with headset were contradictory. |
| Bike Setup: | 95 Rockhopper frame, cheap green jett fork, spacers, topo stem. Single Speed drivetrain |
| Bottom Line: | I had some qualms about this headset. There used to be horrible reviews of FSAproducts on this board. I had never done much bike work and I didn't want to spend a forture only to screw things up. Pricepoint had these really cheap and it was red. Figured it would be cool on my red/green/yellow color scheme. Didn't come with the conix but a starnut, which is good. I hear those are aweful. The directions didnt seem to make sense when it came to the bearing install, so i looked online. The online stuff gave 2 different explanations to install. I emailed the company and got nothing back. So I emailed again. I waited a while and got pretty pi$$ed off. About 2 weeks later i finally got an email apologizing for the tardiness of the reply. They said they were moving offices and got backed up. It is now on the bike and i can turn, bounce and stop fine. I don't ride hard, so i don't know about the ruggedness of this component. But I do know it is probably good for your average rider. I will probably buy another FSA headset, but will get sealed bearings instead of the caged. Easier install. |
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