I’m building up a new bike and need a 1in headset and was considering a Chris King, but with all the headsets on the market are Chris King’s worth the $130. Just curious?
If you don’t mind people drooling all over them. Quality eye candy.
If you got the dough it’s the way to go…
Yes. They are worth it. They aren’t that much more than any other top o’ the line headset (ie Campy Record, etc).
Depends on what the rest of the build is and what your plans are for the bike…
If you keep the bike for a while, yes, King is the best and worth it (or if you ride a lot in the rain too). If you tend to swap out bikes every 2 years, then probably not worth the extra money as they don’t really “function” any better than a cheap FSA or Cane Creek headset.
I went with the Chris King for the bling factor…. I’m building a Griffen Vulcan with 10spd DA. Performancebike has the headsets for $129 plus an extra 10% with free shipping. I would have went with a red headset since the frame is silver w/ red graphics, but my only option was either silver or black so I went with black.
Sure, they don’t imporve the fuction of the bike one bit. But they are very pretty and will last longer then just about any other headseat out there and will probably last longer then any other component you build up your ride with. Until my last few bikes had integrated headsets, I rode with nothing else since the 90’s.
All the wrench turners that I know swear by them. Good enough reason for me.
Highest quality. Won’t make you faster but will last longer.
I love his explanation of why integrated head sets suck.
http://www.chrisking.com/pdfs/Int%20Headsets%20Explained.pdf
They are very good. They don’t perform miracles, but they never wear out and are reasonably smooth. I used to go through a headset a year before I switched to Kings.
I put Kings on the last 3 bikes I built years ago. For my new frame, I decided to use a Cane Creek to save money. After a few weeks, I could not get the headset preloaded correctly. I replaced the Cane Creek with a King and the problem disappeared. Now, I have to warranty the Cane Creek and then eBay it. If I’d just gotten the King initially, I would’ve saved $60 and several hours of labor (the Cane Creek required 2 hours of pounding to remove, even with the proper tools).
Kings are the best headsets and are totally worth it. I have had Kings on my mountain bikes and have never really worn them out. They are basically maintenance free.
King headsets are the best you can get. They will last forever. I’ve had a 1’’ threadless headset for 7 or so years and its never needed service and still runs great.