If you checked out our factory visit earlier this summer, you’ve seen and heard most of what’s in this press release. What they didn’t have on hand were prototypes of their gorgeous new 110 headset, shown at left in blue, nor did they have any details about their exhaustively comprehensive new website to help you find the type and size headset parts you need for your frame.
Read on for a recap of what Cane Creek has been up to…
PRESS RELEASE: Over 20 years ago Cane Creek Cycling Components transformed the fork-bicycle interface with the introduction of the threadless headset. In 2011, The Fletcher, NC-based company is once again challenging the industry to re-think what a headset can be with completely revamped product lines, comprehensive tapered solutions and intuitive user resources.
“The complexities created by the evolution of tapered head-tube and steerer-tube technologies have created a great deal of confusion for our industry.†says Scott Sonnone, President of Cane Creek. “Our new headset designs, tapered solutions and fitment resources have all been developed with a single objective in mind: to demystify headsets for our partners while ultimately enhancing rider experience.”
Cane Creek will unveil its new headset lines at the Interbike trade show this September. The company is furthering its commitment to bicycle manufacturers, retailers and consumers by expanding its tapered solutions and introducing new, intelligently designed headsets at all price points.
Leading the way is a second-generation flagship 110-Series that will take its class-leading technology to a whole new level. Incorporating the most effective seals, best aesthetics and strongest materials available in the premium headset market, the 110-Series has been expanded to include a wider range of popular headset fit options. Machined in Cane Creek’s North Carolina facility, the 110 will continue to carry a 110-year, no-questions-asked warranty backed by Cane Creek’s unsurpassed customer service.
To meet the demands of modern freeride and downhill mountain bikers, Cane Creek has also engineered the innovative AngleSet angle-adjusting headset. With steeper or slacker adjustments from 0.5 to 1.5 degrees, AngleSet offers users a choice of up to six offset adjustments. The patent-pending design of AngleSet is head-tube length independent and fits most popular head-tube standards, and is also cut in the Fletcher, NC facility.
Cane Creek’s widely used S-Series and XX-Series headsets are being retired by year’s end, replaced by an all-new 40-Series. Redesigned from top to bottom, the 40-Series effectively merges and expands upon the headsets it replaces. Featuring the brand’s widest array of headset fitment options, the 40-Series incorporates a good deal of trickle-down technology from the flagship 110-Series, while introducing innovations of its own at cost-effective price points.
Introduced earlier this year, Cane Creek completely revamped the Aheadset® line with a service-oriented headset system. The new Aheadset system is full of interchangeable, highly durable parts designed to meet a retailer’s entry-level service and repair needs while greatly reducing required inventory levels. With just a handful of unique parts, the Aheadset system facilitates a number of options, including conversions such as 1†threaded or threadless fork mated to a conventional 1-1/8†head-tube.
Positioned between the Aheadset and 40-Series, Cane Creek will introduce a new 10-Series headset line. Designed primarily to meet the needs of bicycle manufacturers as original equipment spec, the 10-Series will also be available in the aftermarket to provide retailers with a lower-price-point, cartridge bearing headset option.
To support bike the increasing incorporation of tapered steerer-tube and head-tube systems, Cane Creek has developed the most comprehensive tapered headset solution available today. Headsets can no longer be viewed as a single, complete assembly. Instead, dealers and consumers must be given the flexibility to identify and purchase headsets in separate top and bottom assemblies based on frame and fork parameters. Cane Creek’s Tapered Solutions accomplish this within a user-friendly system across all primary headset families. Through the ability to mix-and-match sizes and standards, Cane Creek’s tapered headset solution maximizes flexibility, minimizes inventory and offers unsurpassed breadth of configurations.
In addition to new product development, Cane Creek continues to expand its identification and fitment resources to make headset identification and purchasing less complicated. For 2011, Cane Creek has revamped its popular Headset Identification Guide and will introduce an all-new, easy-to-use headset “guidebook†for the industry. The Headset Fit Finder, a robust online tool designed to identify headset requirements for any bicycle in a few easy steps, continues to evolve and now includes more than 2,400 frames as well as a new suspension fork identification feature. The much anticipated “Gary Gauge,†a simple slide-rule tool created to facilitate proper headset measurement and identification, will be available in November.
