yes. they're amazing and so smoooootthhhhhh.

Sure if you want the bling factor. I'm putting one on my new build. That said my $25 cane creek is still super smooth after 3 years of year round commuting.

there like 160 right?

they have a ten year guarantee also if i'm correct, well the bearings.

someone correct me if i'm wrong.

and like d3fold said, the bling factor is there too since you can get them colored.

i got mine for 144 at bike central cause they had to order it (color) haha

but veloshop has them for $124 for 1" and $129 for 1 1/8"

There about $125

Personally on a Pake I wouldnt put a CK on it. But its your money.

its either that or an fsa orbit x. i dont know.

What kind of improvement will you get out of an expensive headset? I've been rocking cheap cane creek headsets for years now and have never really thought about it.

thats why i asked

So is the goodness mainly in how long it will last?

shit, yeah, but also the smoothness of the finest swiss butter fresh from the cow.

went a little to far there, but the kings are a perfect headset in my opinion. nothing more, nothing less.

unless you get the limited run black with etched logos for 600+ dollars.

alex:

So is the goodness mainly in how long it will last?

better bearing, manufacturing tolerances and availability of colors. they charge a premium versus other brands like CC or FSA because they are manufactured in Portland and they practice green manufacturing processes.

The nicer FSA headsets are decent and have improved a lot over the years, but king last forever.

when they say that the bearing sets themselves are made here, I swallow hard.Even Phil Wood has the sense to have the Big Bad Globo-Bearing Co. make his bearings to spec. I mean Dana Corp was the last US ball and roller bearing maker of any consequence and they closed shop in like 03. So what exactly are they making? If they are making the races...I stand corrected. That would explain why they cost what they do. I sent off an e-mail to them to find out.

as far as where my knowledge comes from, in this particular instance, meaning bearings, I used to do the hardware ordering for a machine shop I managed. Their catalog had nice glossy pics and you could cross reference by the bearing model number, the ISO sizing number, or the product part number. The bearing model number is laser etched on one of the non-working surfaces, right next to the origin code.

I'll post here with what I hear back from CK, but I gotta cut it out with my Mr. Know-It-All-Shit, it's hard to spell this good for this many consecutive posts. Plus I sound like my dorky engineer dad.

Dude putting a CK on a Pake? Yeah, that's putting diamonds on lead like the guy above said. You're getting the cheapest entry level track frame... and then throwing the most expensive headset on it?

I'm gonna go ahead and veer away from popular opinion in this thread and say it's a no go. You won't notice a single difference between the CK and a $60 headset when riding the bike, and if you haven't beat your bike to shit 3 years later, the $60 will likely still be cruising.

Real ballers roll Tri-Spokes... :)

for best results make sure you face your head tube for use with the ck. (face - remove a small amount of material to ensure planarity. done with a freakin expensive tool)

white folks:

when they say that the bearing sets themselves are made here, I swallow hard.Even Phil Wood has the sense to have the Big Bad Globo-Bearing Co. make his bearings to spec. I mean Dana Corp was the last US ball and roller bearing maker of any consequence and they closed shop in like 03. So what exactly are they making? If they are making the races...I stand corrected. That would explain why they cost what they do. I sent off an e-mail to them to find out.

as far as where my knowledge comes from, in this particular instance, meaning bearings, I used to do the hardware ordering for a machine shop I managed. Their catalog had nice glossy pics and you could cross reference by the bearing model number, the ISO sizing number, or the product part number. The bearing model number is laser etched on one of the non-working surfaces, right next to the origin code.

I'll post here with what I hear back from CK, but I gotta cut it out with my Mr. Know-It-All-Shit, it's hard to spell this good for this many consecutive posts. Plus I sound like my dorky engineer dad.

No testicles? Dang, I been seriously misled.

jeezy, tell me again why your getting the pake over a TT? compared to the TT the pake is a tank weight wise and costs just as much if not more $$. WTF? srsly?

if you havent seen a TT, come over and peep ours, it's hella light.

hella.

true, zelah, but i just don't like taking parts on and off. a headset is no big deal, but for instance every time you reapply a crank to a spindle, it further stretches the machined hole. gross. get your mind out of the gutter.

Kilo TT is a way better deal than a Pake on all fronts... why pay the same $$$ for a heavier frame vs. a tried and true one? I've beaten the shit out of my KHS (same frame as Kilo TT), got hit by a car (mostly threw my rear rim out of true, frame was checked for alignment issues and is still straight as an arrow), worked a job on it hauling up to 50 pounds of food on the rear basket (probably not something the frame was designed for), ridden a full winter on it, banged it up plenty hard, it's holding along fine. They're solid frames, they'll build up ~19-21lb depending on the mostly on the wheelset (in your case you'll be pushing the heavy end of the scale with that AnchorSpoke(tm)), and they're priced really nice. Do ittt.

reasons for a pake:
kilo tt is not going to fit me right. 50 cm is the right top tube lengh but too low of a seat tube. 53 is too long of a toptube and the right seat tube. im also getting on ebcause the bike shop i work at can get them for me cheap. im really having second thoughts now though. fuck.

Tange is the name of the company that make that steel tube.
A Pake is really not that bad, yeah it is "waterpipe" or "homedepot" tube as some people have mentioned, but it's still a fine bike, plus your getting a deal on it, so don't sweat it.
What are you using it for? a street fixie or to race at the track?

Also, all in all - don't worry about the seat tube length, focus more on the effective top tube length, sometimes referred to as horizontal tt length, this is what will ultimately determine your comfort on the bike.

4130 refers to the grade of steel and material properties, 4130 has been around for ever, steel. Tange is the manu who makes the tubes out of 4130 that are welded together to make your Pake Frame.

Google steel 4130 if you want to see the properties. It's certainly not the lightest or heaviest, but many other processes affect how light a frameset is.

Not sure I get you on the seat height thing. If you know your effective top tube, this will be based on how relaxed or how aggressive you want your position on your bikeand also the frames geometry ie sloping top tube will depend on how much seat tube is showing. If that makes sense... garble :)