[790097]

Hmm... that explains why it doesn't look like the 10 series headsets I have seen...

 

[phlegm]

So I got a chance to call Cane Creek today. To my surprise, when I pulled the up the contact tab on their website, I noticed the address to their factory is in Fletcher, NC only about 15 minutes away from my wife's parent's house. Might have to go check the place out when we're visiting sometime.

Anyhow, I explained to the guy that I talked to what I had on the bike, and the problems I was having with the new 40 series ZS44 top subassembly, and he told me that the headset on my bike was actually a series 5 headset, and not a series 10 headset like what is listed on Salsa's website. He said for that headset, the gap at the top is normal. Unfortunately, he told me that the 5 series headsets weren't compatible with any of the other headsets they sold, and that's why my new 40 series top subassemly wasn't working correctly. He told me he could sell me the 40 series bearing and cup to go with my new top subassembly to get it all to work for another $15. I didn't wind up buying it over the phone, but figured I'd run with what's on the bike for now, and just upgrade the entire headset when the set that's on the bike now needs to be replaced. In the meantime, I'm going to try to cut a piece of felt or something to fill the gap to at least help keep dirt and dust out of the OEM headset.

Thx for the follow up.

 

[cjsb]

Hmm... that explains why it doesn't look like the 10 series headsets I have seen...

Yeah, my 2014 Heckler oem 10 series, and it did not have that gap.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

 

[pinkece]

Old thread necro, but yes I have a bike that has been running with a similar but larger gap running the Cane Creek ZS and the build has to be at least 15 years old and guess what.. the top bearing that is exposed by this gap is still running smoothly after all these years. Sealed bearings are great LOL.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but the gap can be minimized by grinding down the compression spacer that sits under the top piece of the top of the headset by a few mm but why bother.