J
Jon is Away!
Guest
After several months I have managed to identify the headset fitted to
my Giant OCR. It is manufactured under licence from Cane Creek by VP
Components and has the code: VP-A01ACG.
It consists of 5 parts, a crown race, two bearings built into press fit
cups, a centering spacer to align the top of the steerer and a top
cover / seal. It is a hideous piece of design and those responsible
should be taken out and shot!
The bearings cannot be replaced or removed and servicing is only
possible (If that is the word) by removing the seal and washing them
out with WD-40 before attempting to shoehorn enough grease in to
actually do anything.
The dimensions used (30mm ID crown race / 41.4mm ID head tube / 28.6mm
steerer) are incompatible with *everything* except for four that I can
find. An FSA aftermarket replacement for which there is no available
information. Two possibilies manufactured by Tien Hsin Industries (A
specialist in OEM parts for manufacturers!) and the original piece by
VP Components. The latter three all consist of one-piece bearing / cup
arrangements or caged bearings and I have no information on the former
(But strongly suspect it to be a rebadge of one of the TH ones!).
All other integral headsets (Excluding Chris King's) are based on an
head tube of ID of 44mm which means that I cannot upgrade to a more
common standard.
What really pisses me off (Other than Giant's blatant disregard for
post-sales servicing) is that the Giant engineer that I spoke to at the
ToB had no understanding of the headset and told me in no uncertain
terms that I just had to pull the bearing out and take it to a shop who
would be able to order a replacement. It would appear that even their
own staff do not know what they use.
All of this sadly means that until I can find a reliable source for a
replacement headset with either serviceable bearings, or replaceable
cartridge ones, I will have to withdraw my previous positive comments
about the Giant OCR. The bottom end OCR and TCR frames come with
"normal" Aheadsets, but the headset fitted to mine appears to be
standard on all OCR and TCR frames above that. It may be better than
the purely integrated systems, but this still sucks!
Grrr. <rant over>
Jon
my Giant OCR. It is manufactured under licence from Cane Creek by VP
Components and has the code: VP-A01ACG.
It consists of 5 parts, a crown race, two bearings built into press fit
cups, a centering spacer to align the top of the steerer and a top
cover / seal. It is a hideous piece of design and those responsible
should be taken out and shot!
The bearings cannot be replaced or removed and servicing is only
possible (If that is the word) by removing the seal and washing them
out with WD-40 before attempting to shoehorn enough grease in to
actually do anything.
The dimensions used (30mm ID crown race / 41.4mm ID head tube / 28.6mm
steerer) are incompatible with *everything* except for four that I can
find. An FSA aftermarket replacement for which there is no available
information. Two possibilies manufactured by Tien Hsin Industries (A
specialist in OEM parts for manufacturers!) and the original piece by
VP Components. The latter three all consist of one-piece bearing / cup
arrangements or caged bearings and I have no information on the former
(But strongly suspect it to be a rebadge of one of the TH ones!).
All other integral headsets (Excluding Chris King's) are based on an
head tube of ID of 44mm which means that I cannot upgrade to a more
common standard.
What really pisses me off (Other than Giant's blatant disregard for
post-sales servicing) is that the Giant engineer that I spoke to at the
ToB had no understanding of the headset and told me in no uncertain
terms that I just had to pull the bearing out and take it to a shop who
would be able to order a replacement. It would appear that even their
own staff do not know what they use.
All of this sadly means that until I can find a reliable source for a
replacement headset with either serviceable bearings, or replaceable
cartridge ones, I will have to withdraw my previous positive comments
about the Giant OCR. The bottom end OCR and TCR frames come with
"normal" Aheadsets, but the headset fitted to mine appears to be
standard on all OCR and TCR frames above that. It may be better than
the purely integrated systems, but this still sucks!
Grrr. <rant over>
Jon