Chris King Headset service?

Wondered if anyone has any tips on keeping these headsets running smooth?

I have one which is smooth as butter but wondered if I should be doing owt to keep it nice, and I have another which is a bit more gritty.

Is there anything I can do to get it back to it's former glory? These are sealed bearing arn't they, so is my only option to get replacements?

It's for a 1 1/4 headset so would like to service if poss.

Cheers

Gary

:shock: Leave it alone fella, I have owned CK headsets for over 15 years now and NEVER, had to touch them,,

according to some crowds on stw they eat your fork steerer .

to answer the original question. carefully remove the metal seal, then the rubber one which will expose the bearing. wipe away as much grease as possible, then use gt85 to break the grease down, keep purging until all the grease has gone, & the bearings run silky smooth & not gritty at all. then hairdryer or heat gun the bearings. then lightly regrease with your fave grease & put the seals back in. as the seals are pressed in the excess grease will be pushed out, again wipe that away.

chris, the STW issue is more related to undersize fork steerers. its not so much of a problem on short travel forks. on longer forks the leverage acts to loosen the headset as theres no compression ring or wedge to hold the forks in place, only the rubber 0 ring with king headsets. if the fork steerer is the perfect correct size (as king stuff is) then the forks wont loosen. its pretty common that rockshox run slightly undersize fork steerers, the 0 ring doesnt provide enough grip & the headset loosens. there issue isnt that the fork steerers arent the correct size, its that the headset only works for perfect tolerance... you decide whos right or wrong.. king or rockshox?

FYI, this isnt a new problem, mag21 era crowns used to be frequently undersize, but wasnt really noticeable with such a short fork travel.

I need to service two of mine, but they've been used for ten years without complaint. Still running, just not as sweet as before.

Quicktime movie from CK Website

Manuals are on the website too but the movie makes it easier to understand

cchris2lou":188no6q7 said:

according to some crowds on stw they eat your fork steerer .

Click to expand...

There are issues with long travel forks & CK headsets (140mm+ IIRC) not just STW reporting it either, quite a few forums have users with this issue

have that very same issue with the Cannondale P-Bone rigid fork on my Klein. It's a steel steerer so the movement eats into the o-ring and then into the bearing cap. It's not that the head set loosens but the steerer has play in the bearing cap - which feels like the head set is loose.

As much as i like the CK stuff - i think it's a poor design. And kinda arrogant to praise the high precision and blame the sloppiness of others when it would be so easy to be compatible with more than just a few forks. But there might be patent issues preventing them from using a conical compression ring? Threaded CKs are still great though

Carsten

"But there might be patent issues preventing them from using a conical compression ring?"

thats it exactly , dia comp ( or is it tech :? ) anyway someone has the patent on the "aheadset" and chris king is avoiding paying to use the better method

the king relies on the oring and before you start writing how wrong i am check some bmx forums and see why they stopped using them , or remove the oring and go for a ride and tell me the headset doesnt feel loose

Carsten":38x1r9h1 said:

have that very same issue with the Cannondale P-Bone rigid fork on my Klein. It's a steel steerer so the movement eats into the o-ring and then into the bearing cap. It's not that the head set loosens but the steerer has play in the bearing cap - which feels like the head set is loose.

As much as i like the CK stuff - i think it's a poor design. And kinda arrogant to praise the high precision and blame the sloppiness of others when it would be so easy to be compatible with more than just a few forks. But there might be patent issues preventing them from using a conical compression ring? Threaded CKs are still great though

Carsten

Click to expand...

just incase that was aimed at me carsten
"there issue isnt that the fork steerers arent the correct size, its that the headset only works for perfect tolerance... you decide whos right or wrong.. king or rockshox?"

so you guessed I was blaming rock shox? I wasnt pointing the finger, just illustrating the case.
in a perfect world everyone would make the correct size, unfortunately thats never the case & people are having problems with King on longer travel forks as a result. mountain bike parts DONT need to be that complex, a wedge would have sorted the issue fairly easily.
its possibly a patent issue, but theres masses of companies that use a wedge system (which is much needed on the king), eg hope, ritchey, FSA, cane creek.

on a related note, the split type crown races are for the exact same reason. differing size fork steerers, now that sealed bearings are common place makes a lot of sence.. obviously wouldnt work on normal caged bearings

I should add that I run fox forx with king headsets & dont have any problems (150 & 160mm forx)

i only use a chris king because its one of only a few parts that are made to match their own tollerance let alone the variety of sizes other companies come out with for stuff :?

im sure weve all had times when we have sat with a new part in hand wondering why x wont fit in y :roll:

putting a 140mm fork on a hardtail isnt the smartest thing in the world to do and expect the headset to work properly let alone one that isnt wedged

if its that much of a problem and you must keep the king might be worth considering this

http://www.bikeguide.org/how-to/king/index.php