Sunline V-One Reducer Headset
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Sunline, while new to the scene, has shown a lot of poise and promise in their dedication to making what the consumer wants. The V-One Reducer headset is unique in that it is a parallel headset. What is a parallel headset and what are the benefits of the design? Continue on.
The Sunline V-One headset uses a parallel contact design. Most headsets use a compression sleeve to secure the headset but not this one. There is a parallel spacer that snaps into the inner radius of the upper bearing. This spacer has walls that are parallel to the steerer tube and the inside race of the bearing. This spacer and bearing assembly slides on over the steerer tube and once it is inside of the bearing cup, the headset is tight. The headset essentially presses together completely and an audible snap can often be heard once everything is assembled together. The purpose of the press fit and parallel spacer is to ensure that the headset does not come loose upon impacts.
(click to enlarge)
In addition to the headset not being able to come loose, it also means that the headset can’t be overtightened with a standard starnut assembly. This takes some of the guesswork out of installing a headset and making sure it is set up properly, which can be particularly annoying in a dual crown fork installation.
The Sunline headset cups are very light and pretty thin walled. Removing them without damage could prove to be somewhat of a challenge due their thinner wall thickness. Some of the edges of the headset cups do have some minor marks on them. In the event that the headset’s parallel spacer does lose its tolerance, it will need to be replaced because you can’t simply tighten the headset to remove the play, as the parallel spacer dictates that load.
Installing this headset requires some procedures that differ from a standard setup. You can see some clear instructions here. We’ll be trying out the V-One headset soon to see how it stacks up. The instructions included with the headset aren’t quite as good as the one’s in the pdf so it’s worth a look if you’re going to buy one. If you need to cut the steerer tube, it is easier to not install the top bearing/parallel spacer and mock up the setup you’ll be running so you can measure where you need to cut first to remove the fork a bit easier. Sunline says you can also cut the fork on the bike, but it has the potential to leave metal shavings where they shouldn’t be.
(click to enlarge)
The design is quite innovative and it utilizes bigger bearings than other reducing headsets, which adds some minor weight but should increase its strength and life. The man behind this headset, Pablo, also is the one who has designed the new Corsair bikes. So far the headset is impressive as well an innovative approach to what seemed to be a defacto in the headset world. Swapping forks or removal won’t be as easy but perhaps these benefits outweigh that. You can purchase this headset for $99 right on the 661/Sunline website or at any good bike shop.
- Headset cup insertion 17.79mm
- 6.54mm top stack height (top cap is 3.4mm)
- 6.09mm lower stack height
- installation instructions
- 155g
Previous Coverage
January 17th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Good luck with the headset. Mine has been nothing but trouble, but at least Suniline has good CS.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
What was wrong with yours Charles?
January 17th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
In my experience they can be tough to install but once they are set up they are great. Time will tell, I guess.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
It was hard to install, but more than that, once the fork was on it wouldn’t come off. I know one other person that has this headset, and they had the same problems. Short of taking a sledge hammer to the top of the fork, the only way to remove my fork was to pry apart the press fittings.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
With this so called “Parallel Contact” there is no tapered contact to make up for over/under sized steerer tubes. I imagine folks that have the fork stuck in place probably have steerer tubes on the slightly big side.
There is a reason everyone (that makse a nice headset) pays money to Cane Creek to use the split angled compression ring - it’s a simple system that happens to work really well.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Yea the tolerances when you don’t manufacture every piece can cause issues no matter the part. Perhaps deburring/removing some material from the parallel spacer is in order if its tight during installation?
The cane creek design does work well, i’m sure people like King are on the list to retrofit-announce they’re upgrading finally once its made available.
Combined with their tolerances it might put some competition out and I believe that is why the Cane Creek 110 came out…
January 17th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Or you could just get a King and not have any problems with your headset at all. Its got a 10 year warranty and I personnaly know of people with 25-30 y/o King headsets and have never had any problems.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Don’t be fooled into thinking Kings are fool proof or bombproof.
They also have their issues, particularly in the long travel fork department since they do not use a compression sleeve.
January 17th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I concur. CK headsets won’t appear on my ride again. They provide no benefit over any other headset. They use an antiquated patent. They are over priced.
Worst of all, they are top dog and they quit innovating - creating an easy target, which is why you see CC and everyone else taking market share daily.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Wow Mike you must know people riding with some of the first CK headsets since the very first one was made in ‘76 : )
I am a big fan of CK headsets, not only their performance, but the ethical practices under which all CK products are made. The only times I have ever seen someone have problems with a CK headset it has been due to poor steerer tolerances or improper frame prep.
The compression sleeve headset is still incredibly important for 99% of the bikes out there. It simply wouldn’t be possible to build a low-mid range bike if all the parts had to be made to super high tolerances. It’s great to see new high-end headsets coming out as it will ensure innovation, but for the time being I think the CK is still the best.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Hi. Im thinking about using the bottom part of the Sunline headset for my Giant Glory but i dont know if it will work together with a sleeve-top headset, anyone who knows?
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I don’t see why it wouldn’t work so long as you used the bottom crown race and there was plenty of room in the frame to accept the cup.