Cane Creek 110 : First Look
December 13th, 2007 by ArleighMany years ago Cane Creek was creator of threadless headset technology. Putting a benchmark in headsets, fork and frame design. How often do you see a frame with a threaded headset installed? Not very often. Normally it is a throw back or just an older bike.
If you can’t tell from my previous post I am pretty pumped about this new 110 headset. I have listed the main points about this headset from Cane Creek’s website but here is a refresher.
- Hard-Pack Alloy – The cups and spacers are machined from a custom drawn seamless tube of 7050 Plus Aluminum. This unique manufacturing process allows for an incredibly strong material without a weight penalty.
- Captured Compression Ring – Variations in steer tube diameters are common and sometime shims are needed to correct this. The “Captured” compression ring keeps these shims in place while maintaining the simplicity of the system.
- Split Lip Bearing – By incorporating a dual lip design the bearing gets twice the protection of standard headsets while decreasing friction.
- Low Weight – Without its spacers or preload assembly, the Cane Creek 110 is a remarkably light 97.5 grams. You won’t find a better performing, more durable headset. Finding a lighter one is just as unlikely.
The biggest thing for me is the split lip bearing. Yes it keeps out the grime but it also allows a seal with less friction. This equals longer bearing life and quicker turning for you.
Taking the headset out of the box there are a few things that come with it. Normal headset lower race, cups, upper race, starnut, and top cap. Then there are the thin metal spacers and aluminum etched spacers for your steer. Finally you can’t forget the directions!
The weight is about that of a Chris King at 97.5 grams. The spacers felt nice in my hand with the standard interlock design of Cane Creek spacers. Everything that came out of the box had Cane Creek etched somewhere on it. Even the cups have the patent number etched into them.
The top race seems to have a tight fitting seal to it which I haven’t played with yet to see if it is replaceable or not. The lower fork race looks much like any other high end Cane Creek race.
I hope to have this headset installed this weekend. I’ll put up some photos of the install and over all feel of it with a rigid fork.
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To me, “showcasing” a headset is humorous, I guess because I have never had trouble with one. telling me the difference between headsets is like telling me the difference between between the the Shimano M520 and any other SPD compatible pedal.
With that said, I can understand why it was reviewed, no one that owns a Ferrari wants Miata parts.
Quinn,
what you are saying is a valid point. Depending on how or where you live you may never have a headset issue. Personally when I lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina in the course of 3 months I went through 4 headsets until I put on a very nice Cane Creek. It was a combination of it being wet, and sandy every ride - every day. There is nothing worse than your handling being thrown off due to corrosion in your steering area.
the new crank brothers headsets are lighter….check your facts before making a statement that says there is nothing lighter….
Binman.
I didn’t say you wouldn’t find one. The information I listed as I stated was from Cane Creek’s website.
“Low Weight – Without its spacers or preload assembly, the Cane Creek 110 is a remarkably light 97.5 grams. You won’t find a better performing, more durable headset. Finding a lighter one is just as unlikely.”
http://www.canecreek.com/cane-creek-110-headset.html
Please read the whole article before trying to bash something I did not say. The whole thing I said that was not copied off of Cane Creek’s website about weight was this :
“The weight is about that of a Chris King at 97.5 grams. The spacers felt nice in my hand with the standard interlock design of Cane Creek spacers. Everything that came out of the box had Cane Creek etched somewhere on it. Even the cups have the patent number etched into them.”
The Crank Brothers are pretty cool. They don’t really have much in the way of a cup though. There whole thing is the bearing is the cup. It’s a cool idea but more of an Apples to Oranges for comparison. Also, no compression ring so it’s nice but will get some movement in the top assembly with enough leverage from a long travel fork or flex from a super lightweight carbon steer-tube. I have a King that I weighed without grease in the bearings and it came in at 101.8g and if you look at the QBP book they have 1″ Kings at 108g and standard 1 1/8″ at 126g. I also own a 110 and it actually does weigh the claimed 97.5g. Of course that was without spacers or topcap but either way I do respect the fact that it was an honest weight claim. Anyway, I’m going to go for a ride since that’s always more fun than splitting hairs with the gram scale.
Where is the follow up? How is the headset doing after a few months or riding? Any play in the top? The site says it does has a sort of compression ring, is this true?