Archival Reviews of Suntour Headsets

This is a beautifully fashioned Road Racing headset with largely aluminum construction to reduce weight. The fork cone race and the upper cone race are chrome plated steel, with the bearing surface ground after the plating so the bearings get the best surface possible. The bearing cups are cast aluminum, which is then milled and machined to a round, flat surface for installation. The steel races for the cups have the bearing surfaces polished after the steel is colored black so the bearings roll on well finished surfaces. The steel races are notched to fit a thin rubberized aluminum seal that fits between the cone and cup races, shielding the bearing from road contaminants. The head lock nut is aluminum with a rubber stem seal. There are twenty- two 5/32" ball bearings in each retainer. Available in Silver only, the stack height is 37mm with a weight of 123 grams. English/Italian thread. A collectors item. No longer made, we sold this for $59.99

Suntour has licensed from WTB the Grease Guard injection system for the XC PRO headset. This headset however uses loose ball bearings not held in a retainer. The headset has cast aluminum cups and four brilliantly conceived rubber stem seals that close off the bearings against outside dirt getting in, while providing a passageway for purged grease to exit through. In the lower bearing assembly, the cup is then turned to make sure the inside and outside are perfectly round. The steel head key washer is recessed into the upper bearing cup. Both cups are machined to accept the steel bearing races that the balls revolve on, then they are anodized Black. Into the cups are fit precision ground stainless steel races. The fork cone race is made of stainless steel and ground to a smooth finish. The upper cone race is steel which is chrome plated, and then given a precision ground bearing surface. The head lock nut is made of aluminum. There are twenty- six 5/32" ball bearings in each of the bearing cups. The Grease Guard port on the side of each cup allows you inject grease into the bearings and push out both water and contaminated grease conveniently. You do not have to disassemble the headset, it can be done on the bike, very simply, at the end of any aggressive ride. The XC Pro headset is available in 1" diameter. The 1" headset has a stack height of 37mm. The 1" size weighs 125 grams. Black only. No longer made, we sold these for $45.99

This is a more conventional mountain headset from Suntour. The headlock nut is made of cast aluminum and has a O-ring stem seal, with the size and thread stamped into the bottom. The head key washer is made of stamped steel plate. The upper and lower bearing cups are cast aluminum pieces, each with precision cut steel races, pressed into the bearing cup. Each of the bearing cups has a lip at the edge of the steel race into which a rubberized steel ring seal sits, keeping contaminants out of the bearing assembly. The bearing cone races are made of cast steel that is then chrome plated, after which the actual bearing surfaces are cut and polished again. They are very smooth. The twenty 4mm diameter ball bearings are held in each steel retainer. The ST00 headset is used in the SL, XC Comp, XC LTD, XC Expert, and XC Sport parts groups. The headset is Clear anodized to a silver color, comes only in the 1" weighing 120 grams and has a stack height of 42.2 millimeters. No longer made, we sold these for $26.99