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Chris King headsets are still a thing. The headset madness of the 2000's has mostly settled down, and 3rd party headsets are a pretty trivial and standards comp

Chris King headsets are still a thing. The headset madness of the 2000's has mostly settled down, and 3rd party headsets are a pretty trivial and standards compliant upgrade. We're even mostly settled into a standard bearing size (!). Bottom brackets are an example where we're coming back to sanity. The pressfit junk they pushed on us was for ease of manufacturing and low cost. Consumers realized they were worse, and they started to avoid those. The manufacturers have caught on and started putting threaded BBs back in, as they ought to. We've mostly got a set of semi-reasonable standards. In the MTB world at least, 148 rear hub width is almost ubiquitous, and 15mm front axles with boost spacing are effectively it outside of downhill applications. 6 bolt rotors of various sizes are essentially standard. The majority of the pain is where the big manufacturers (SRAM and Shimano) are battling it out: hub and chain/shifting standards. That is admittedly painful right now, but you can chalk most that up to corporate greed. All in all, I don't get the concern here. With a little bit of consideration of compatibility in a couple areas you can mix and match brands pretty easily on most of the bike.

CobaltFire 3y ago
I’ve been riding a PF30 BB since 2016 in all weather over thousands of miles and haven’t had a single creak. I will admit I do prefer a threaded BB, but I also think it’s an overstated issue. Then again, my frame is steel and I run a pretty high end Wheels Mfg BB. Maybe I’m insulated by that.
- switchbak 3y ago
  I had the dreaded creak. Installed a Wheels Mfg threaded insert BB thing - problem solved on that old bike. Never had much of an issue with the threaded ones otherwise over almost 30 years of riding. There's lots of other ways to address PF issues, I think it's just that consumers know about the issues and prefer to avoid them if possible.
midoridensha 3y ago
>The pressfit junk they pushed on us was for ease of manufacturing and low cost. Consumers realized they were worse, and they started to avoid those. From what I've seen said by bike experts on YouTube, pressfit is actually superior, because it saves weight, and is (maybe) still used on top-end racing bikes for this reason. The problem with pressfit is that it requires very precise manufacturing, and apparently most mfgrs just can't make a proper round hole in carbon fiber. Threaded BBs are more practical because they allow for sloppier manufacturing tolerances. Of course, threaded is better for end users who want to do their own repairs, since it doesn't require special press tools like pressfit does.
- hgomersall 3y ago
  I don't believe that it's easier to make a threaded hole than a smooth hole. I suspect the issue is that if you're making a threaded hole you simply can't pretend it's good enough so you're forced do it properly in some sense.
  - midoridensha 3y ago
    You can't make a threaded hole in carbon fiber at all; it's impossible. This isn't the issue. The issue (according to the YouTube experts) is that for mass-market bikes, the manufacturers have somewhat poor quality control and manufacturing tolerances (as far as drilling holes apparently). For a press-fit BB (bottom bracket), you need an extremely round hole, accurately sized for the BB to press into (hence the name). For a threaded BB, this isn't an issue, because those aren't pressed in. Those have an aluminum threaded part that's bonded into the hole; the hole doesn't have to be super accurate, just good enough for the aluminum part to fit into properly and get glued in. The aluminum part has the threads and perfectly fits the BB, and since it's machined out of aluminum at some other factory, doesn't have the problems with tolerances that the CF parts have apparently.

CobaltFire 3y ago

I’ve been riding a PF30 BB since 2016 in all weather over thousands of miles and haven’t had a single creak. I will admit I do prefer a threaded BB, but I also think it’s an overstated issue. Then again, my frame is steel and I run a pretty high end Wheels Mfg BB. Maybe I’m insulated by that.

switchbak 3y ago
I had the dreaded creak. Installed a Wheels Mfg threaded insert BB thing - problem solved on that old bike. Never had much of an issue with the threaded ones otherwise over almost 30 years of riding. There's lots of other ways to address PF issues, I think it's just that consumers know about the issues and prefer to avoid them if possible.

midoridensha 3y ago

>The pressfit junk they pushed on us was for ease of manufacturing and low cost. Consumers realized they were worse, and they started to avoid those. From what I've seen said by bike experts on YouTube, pressfit is actually superior, because it saves weight, and is (maybe) still used on top-end racing bikes for this reason. The problem with pressfit is that it requires very precise manufacturing, and apparently most mfgrs just can't make a proper round hole in carbon fiber. Threaded BBs are more practical because they allow for sloppier manufacturing tolerances. Of course, threaded is better for end users who want to do their own repairs, since it doesn't require special press tools like pressfit does.

hgomersall 3y ago
I don't believe that it's easier to make a threaded hole than a smooth hole. I suspect the issue is that if you're making a threaded hole you simply can't pretend it's good enough so you're forced do it properly in some sense.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  You can't make a threaded hole in carbon fiber at all; it's impossible. This isn't the issue. The issue (according to the YouTube experts) is that for mass-market bikes, the manufacturers have somewhat poor quality control and manufacturing tolerances (as far as drilling holes apparently). For a press-fit BB (bottom bracket), you need an extremely round hole, accurately sized for the BB to press into (hence the name). For a threaded BB, this isn't an issue, because those aren't pressed in. Those have an aluminum threaded part that's bonded into the hole; the hole doesn't have to be super accurate, just good enough for the aluminum part to fit into properly and get glued in. The aluminum part has the threads and perfectly fits the BB, and since it's machined out of aluminum at some other factory, doesn't have the problems with tolerances that the CF parts have apparently.