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Chris King DropSet Headset [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

There are many components on an average mountain bike that take a lot of abuse. On the other hand very few take a beating but don't get much attention like the headset. While getting beat on the bearings still need to perform smoothly. Our friend George shares his thoughts on the Chris King DropSet Headset. Check it out!

Overview

I have a 2019 Santa Cruz Hightower that I bought as a full factory build. This build came fully spec’d with some decent middle upper components and that includes the headset. My “S” build came with a Cane Creek 40 headset installed and while I had read some negative comments on the inter webs about their longevity and proneness to creaking (maybe thats where the name comes from?) I figured I’d give it a shot since I liked the overall build. Unfortunately within the last year of riding (really only 7 months because winter seems to last 6 plus months in the Chicago area) some of these reviews came to fruition. I had creaking issues periodically and would fiddle around with disassembling and cleaning and re-greasing and torquing. I found a post that suggested you just crank down on the top cap up to 7-9Nm. I tried that and it worked for a while but the creaking returned. I don’t know why but all of the odd creaks and squeaks modern bikes make the headset is one that particularly annoys me.

I started looking for alternartive res placements and upgrades to my CC 40. After reading reviews and talking to other local bikers it seemed there were a couple options. Continuously service and replace lower cost headset bearing sets such as the Cane Creek or ‘invest’ in a top of the line Chris King headset. Now, I’ll admit when I saw the price for 2 bearings, a crown race, a top cap and top cover I about fainted. But after looking into them more it really did seem like the best bang for the buck, not to mention the 10 year warranty. Anything Chris King is stamped with his name, otherwise known as the mark of quality. So, I bit the bullet and ordered the Chris King Dropset headset in Navy. When the item arrived I knew right away this was a quality item. The machining and anodizing is top notch. When I think of bike part anodizing I think Chris King and Industry Nine.

It all seals together nicely even with the very specific and low 1.92Nm of torque Chris King provides to tighten the top cap to.

Newer dropset headsets are pretty straight forward to install and this was true for the Chris King. The hardest part was removing the Cane Creek crown race since I didn’t have the right tool and had to gently pry for a good amount of time to get it off but still gouged some paint off my fork - a little painful to see. After a little automotive touch up paint though it wasn’t an eyesore anymore (not that anyone looks under the crown race of your fork very often). I used the tried and true PVC method to install the new Chris King crown race to great success, dropped in the new bearings after a very light coat of park tool grease and set the fork and top cap. The weather turned to poo poo very early here with 2 snow storms and negative wind chills already (when did winter and January arrive?) so I haven’t been able to take this new setup to my local trails but a quick ride around the block has everything feeling really good. I hope this means it will be what everyone says and I hope it to be.