Chris King Headsets - are they worth it?

[Fab Foodie]

Headsets are a bit of a bete-noir for me.
For the Rourke I went with 'Hope' (as I couldn't push to Chris King at he time) which has been fine for many years of abuse with a stiff 853 fork. However the bearings are now shot, and whilst not a fortune to replace, I'm wondering whether now is a good time to go the Chris King route? The engineering and design principles seem sound to me, but I'm not an engineer.
What are peoples real-world experiences?
Cheers
FF

 

[Milkfloat]

I had a Chris King on a bike about 10 years ago, it was nice, but not that nice. It came on the bike when I bought it, whilst it was easy to service and a bit blingy I would not bother with the extra expense in the future. That may say more about my quest for value for money than it does about the headset though.

 

[matticus]

I met Chris King at Bespoked - I was a bit star-struck to be honest! He's like the Neil Young of bike parts design - same manner, same drawl, and lots of interesting stuff to say.
He was a speaker on the sustainable manufacturing panel, and really really won me over! I would spend my money on his stuff before other "blingy" makes, any time.

there you go - a "real-world experience". Of sorts!

 

[ianrauk]

I love my blingy silver CK headset. Over 7 years old and counting and not one problem.

 

[rogerzilla]

No. Cane Creek, Hope or pretty much any headset with cartridge bearings is as good. Also, earlier King threadless headsets have a design flaw because King didn't want to pay royalties to Dia-Compe for the split taper ring. These headsets chewed up your steerer tube.

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/eurobike-2010-chris-king-tweaks-headset-design-for-2011/

King made their name in the days of threaded headsets, when cartridge headsets were unusual. These days, a Tange Falcon is equally as good for that purpose and costs under £20.

I do have a King 2Nut on the Brompton but it was just for bling.

 

[NotAsGoodAsMyBike]

I have Chris King headset (and hubs) on my best bike. 7 years and no problems at all, but the bike’s only seen about 4700 miles in all that time so prob not a particularly difficult ask!

 

[Racing roadkill]

The Chris King stuff is really very well made, and usually works like a dream. I hate the volume of most modern C.K. freehubs, but some people seem to get tumescent when they hear them. If you want a quality head set, C.K. is well worth the extra wedge I.M.E. just be aware that you may find certain types fawning over it, if they clock it.