Chris King Headset service?

[scant]

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

nice niche there waiting to be filled until king do it themselves...

 

[perry]

pretty sure i read somewhere that they refuse to pay the owners of the "ahead" so will stick with the oring , but the types of bike that its the biggest problem on have a new standard size thatl be less problematic

and doing that mod in the link relies very much on the king cap being faced very well :?

 

[scant]

I've mailed king, tried to do it in a constructive, rather than insulting manner. I'll post up the response, if/when I get one.

heres what I sent them:
"hi there
in recent years suspension fork travel has grown & grown. as someone who spends time online I see a LOT of discussion on the many mountain bike forums about a perceived problem with the king headset.
the problem arises when a suspension fork has a slightly undersize fork steerer. when such a fork is used with a king headset under extreme loads (espically those generated by BMX & long travel forks) the steerer moves inside the king top bearing cap. I should add at this point that I'm not pointing the finger of blame at you guys in chris king. the problem is widely accepted that undersize fork steerers are the problem. the problem for you guys is that more & more people are either modifying the headsets to cope: http://www.bikeguide.org/how-to/king/index.php
OR, worse for you guys, they're buying different brand headsets.

while this ISNT your problem, your tolerances are perfect, in an imperfect world are you going to re-design the bearing top cap to incorporate a compression wedge of some kind that would compensate for undersize fork steerers?

As a long time king headset user I look forward to your response.

many thanks"

 

[scant]

pretty sure i read somewhere that they refuse to pay the owners of the "ahead" so will stick with the oring , but the types of bike that its the biggest problem on have a new standard size thatl be less problematic

and doing that mod in the link relies very much on the king cap being faced very well :?

dont tioga own the original patent? I hope it doesnt all come down to patents :roll:

 

[perry]

well ive learnt something tonight , cane creak own the aheadset

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/27570/Ahead ... le-deepens

you can just skip to the bottom on this , they seem to argue a lot

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index ... 03696.html

 

[Carsten]

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

no, was directed at king. they use the high precision argument all the time and i had an argument with them about it a few years ago. you've put it very nicely in your mail to them.

i didn't have a problem on the Fox fork as well, it was a very snug fit. it probably would already be helpful to have a somewhat larger and more robust o-ring in the bearing cap. or undersized caps...

i am deffo mounting another head set soon as i am tired of replacing the o-ring and cap and it's still ratteling. and again, that's a short rigid fork. but at least the steerer is not damaged.

carsten

 

[scant]

I owe you a return of favour, i've got a black hope headset you can have if you want

 

[clockd]

hi
just had my king 1 1/4 inch headset serviced, $15 US and it was the best service that i have received from a bicycle related company.

they were amazed the headset was still working and even paid the postage back to New Zealand!

i can not praise them enough. even if it is a 3DV coloured one

 

[scant]

even if it is a 3DV coloured one

thats a good thing, not bad

 

[scant]

i had a mail back from king:
"Thank you for taking the time to contact us at Chris King. We value our customers input and as with all requests I've forwarded your question on to our engineers and production team. At this time there is no plan to change the design or our headsets. This is an issue we will continue to look at and think about."