Best Headsets?

I know that the Chris King headset is the undisputed favourite but if you don’t want to spend as much cash on the headset what are other good suggestions?

I noticed that Supergo has a Campy Chorus at $43 and a Cane Creek C2 at $30. Is it really worth spending 2 to 3 times this to get a King headset? Since these are both sealed bearing headsets, wouldn’t they stand up pretty well over time?

thanks for any info…

I like the cane creek headsets. I think they’re quite nice. But… I do like the kings better.

Nashbar has Syncros headsets for $49.95. I always considered them as good or better than King, but you don’t have any customer service now that Syncros went down…

Do you do a lot of indoor training? I believe the life a of Headset is severely deminished as a result of prolonged high humidity indoor training. Also, what is the environment that you ride in? Chris King HS are forever HS, Is it worth paying to replace a mid level Headset every two years?

CHRIS KING ROCKS

there are,IMHO, two paths to take on the headset issue. this from the olden days of mt biking -

  1. cheap and frequent - in the days of yore this would have inclided something like a 105 or tange. this is kinda limited nowadays with internalsets and threadless designs but the concept holds - put something cheap in that will hold the front end up and change it when it gets nasty.

  2. chris king

note there is no middle ground - a middle of the road headset will offer the worst of both worlds - giving nowhere near the smoothness or life of a king, and costing as much as a king plus a movie with popcorn. what is the point?

King is the best hands down. Three frames, one headset- need I say more?

Chris king is the only headset to consider. How many companies offer a ten year warranty on cycling components? Yes, they are expensive, but they last a lifetime. I have a nine year old king on my training bike that is still as smooth as day one. It is also one of the only headset to offer the ability to convert to threaded to threadless, or vise versa, with a limited amount of parts. It is an investment worth the money.

Cane Creek makes some really nice stuff, but nothing compares to the Chris King. It will outlast the bike, I promise.

tommy