Finding the right headset can be tedious, and that alone is reason enough to buy a good one. Cane Creek's 40 series sits between the economy-focused 10 range and the money-no-object 110 series, but the internals are cross-compatible. Buy a 40 and you can upgrade (or downgrade) bearings and seals as you see fit.
The range covers straight or tapered head tubes, and all cup types: integrated, zero stack and external. It also includes converters, such as if you have a 44mm head tube and want to fit a tapered-steerer fork, and finally – if there’s no complete headset that’s suitable – you can mix and match top and bottom assemblies.
Cups and covers are aluminium, while the crown race and bearings are steel. The latter are protected by an O-ring around the steerer in the top cover, plus face seals against the gap underneath and around the rim of the crown race. Despite these, the headset swings smoothly, and our bearings are still running perfectly months on.
Cane Creek’s put a lot of effort into simplifying naming and it’s paid off. Armed with just a couple of measurements and the bits of your old headset, it’s easy to identify the right model via Cane Creek’s site. This, plus standard internals/stack heights for easy upgrading and repair, only make these well-built headsets better value.