The 2009 Cane Creek headset collection really has something for everyone.  For the budget conscious, there’s the 100 series, priced at $100 made of 6066 Aluminum and sportin’ a machined finish.  There’s also a totally revised XX headset for the All Mountain / Freeride folks, a new Double Barrel rear shock and some cool color selections.  Plus, the new top cap for the XX is totally trick, but you’ll have to read “more” to see it…
The XX series has been lightened up to 50% over last year’s model, and the machined out cap (below) certainly didn’t hurt.
Yes, you’ll probably get some dirt and stuff in there, but it should fall out just as easily when you’re doing your backflips.  You can do a backflip, right?
Besides the new cap, it’s got new crown races and uses recessed bearings.  MSRP is $100.
Lots of colors to choose from.  Yes, purple ano is totally making a comeback.  Good thing I saved my purple Ringle hubs!
The Zero Stack (ZS) has a hidden cup and minimized the effect your headset has on stack height.  Some of the frame manufacturers that are using headtubes designed for zero stack headsets include Giant, Fisher, Bianchi and Diamondback.
The 110 is their high end headset.  It MSRP’s for $140 and weighs 97g.  Coincidentally, the 100 also weighs 97g, but costs $40 less.  So what do you get for the two extra Jacksons?  Better aluminum (7075 vs. 6066) and Press-In bearings (vs. Drop In)…and a shinier, polished finish.
The IS (Integrated System) uses no cups.  The bearings rest directly on the frame’s headtube, so your bike needs to be made to Cane Creek’s specs to use them.  It’s a shame these can’t be used on any bike, because they have the coolest range of finishes, including Carbon and the Maple (real wood) shown below:
Not shown are there Interlok Spacers.  Rather than regular spacers, the Interlok ones have interlocking edges that “snap” into each other and form a rigid tube.  The theory is it will increase overall rigidity in the steering section.  They come in matching colors in sets and come in Cheap and Scalloped.  The cheap ones are about a buck each.  The scalloped ones have machined out insides to save weight (25%) and cost $40.
The big ol’ ONEpointFIVE is for people that like to ride heavy bikes and jump of stupid things.
For those same people, Cane Creek has launched their new Double Barrel rear shock.  It has a new gold color, new needle valve which gives you control over high and low speed compression and rebound, per the knobs shown below.
While I was taking these photos, Jeff Sills from Intense strolled by and said this is “the smoothest shock I’ve ever ridden on a long travel bike.”  ‘Nuff said.
If you’re looking to upgrade your headset, there’s actually a dizzying array of options, models and choices within the series of headsets shown here, so check Cane Creek’s website for what will likely be at least an hour’s worth of spec studying.
