What do people recommend
First thought was Chris King but they’re pretty heavy - 150g. FSA Orbit is 80g and much cheaper ($50 on ebay).
I also have no idea but there seem to be other dimensions involved. The FSA Orbit comes in a 42-52mm - what do these numbers mean? I think that would fit because the frame I’m getting is also sold as with this same headset complete.
You have a steel frame forget about 40g extra in headset weight,
Also these are all “claimed” weights just get one that looks good, is cheap and last’s.
FSA are good so are PRO.
King are good but $$$
Headsets are one of the places I wouldnt be worring about weight, just get something reliable and well made (king)
Cane Creek
#blakeyapproved from memory
Always
OOI - It was common practise years back when I was in the motorcycle industry for manufacturers to go as fas as to vacume the grease out of bearings to get their “claimed weights” down and therefore the power ratios up… fair to say that dodgy practice contributed to the “dry weight” specification we see these days.
Not judging them, just what they did. My boss was on a factory tour of Honda and they had one of their Gull Wing tourers in a ballistics room hooked up to a fan and a fuel supply just shy of bouncing off the limiter… “how lang has that been running? Couple of weeks” Turns out they leave go for months sometimes. Cool story Duggy.
^I fkn love story time
king for the win, and for colour coding, which is the most important part of any modern road build!
an aside to cane creek and weight weenie stuff, I worked on one of the ultralite AER headsets, would not recommend.
By incorporating Norglide® composite bearing technology into a super-lightweight design, AER-Series II® offers more than 50% weight savings over comparable models. It’s the ultimate upgrade for cyclists with an eye on weight.
The AER-Series II® headset incorporates Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics latest innovation in composite bearing technology: Norglide® T. A revolution in bearing technology, the T material sandwiches an aluminum base between a layer of low-friction PTFE tape and an elastomeric rubber backing material yielding a composite bearing that weighs scant 1.5g.
Complete headsets include the top assembly with Norglide T® bearing, plus a lower assembly with AER-Series II® cup, stainless steel 110-Series bearing and a sealed alloy crown race. All other AER-Series II® configurations are sold as top assemblies only, to be pared with 110-Series bottoms to match today’s myriad of head tube configurations. As with all Cane Creek premium headsets, the AER-Series II® Series features state-of-the-art headset technology, designed and manufactured at the Cane Creek facility in Fletcher, NC, USA.
^ Wait. That’s a headset?
as much as this is a bike:
Ritchey also does good headsets (and shit ones too of course), I’ve been very happy with their WCS semi-integrated one. You can often find Ritchey bits on discount too.
x3
x3 on Cane Creek
yep