Scott CR1 Pro Headset

(March 2019 - link to BBB bearing updated)

I bought my Scott CR1 Pro in the Summer of 2013 from Westbrook Cycles. It's a great frame but a poor element was the headset it was supplied with - although the cups were pressed into the frame it still used traditional caged open ball races. After the first winter (Feb 2014) I spotted the tell-tale traces of brown water from the headset bearings. I took the stem off to drop the forks and cleaned and re-greased the bearings. All was fine for the next 12 months but recently, after a period of no use, the steering was lightly seized - it was OK again after being exercised but it was clear the bearings were rusty again. This time I decided that it was not worth cleaning again as the design is prone to deterioration in wet weather and it would be better to replace it with a better design using sealed cartridge bearings - as with my Giant

I had looked before to try and find the appropriate headset from various on-line sources - but its very difficult to determine the exact part without measurements or some other knowledge. A couple of sites have an on-line selector but you need some detailed information such as bearing angles or inner diameters. Further you need some special tools to both remove the old head set races from the frame and the and crown race from the fork and to press back in the new races and these were tools I did not have nor would I justify buying for perhaps 1 or at most 2 uses.

I mentioned this here when I wrote about building my Scott.

The outcome was I decided to take it back to Cult Cycles. I took it here for 2 reasons -one - they'd fitted the original headset for me 18 months earlier and I was happy with the work and - two - one of my sons worked there over the summer of 2014 and I was happy with the work and prices that Cult Cycles charged for work on his bike and on other customers bikes. I took it over on the Saturday but they did not have the parts s I left it there until the following Wednesday when it was ready for collection.

The headset fitted was a BBB Semi-integrated headset BHP-51: 

• Semi-integrated headset.
• Headtube ID: 44 mm.
• Bearing diameter: 1.1/8" - 41.0 mm.
• 36ºx45º sealed CrMo bearings.
• Aluminum 8 mm cone spacer.
• Replacement bearings available (BHP-90 and BHP-92)

 Its all fitted nicely and the steering is back to being as it should be - with the added benefit that spare bearings should be a drop in replacement in a few years time when the bearings probably will fail again - based on the life of the sealed bearings on my Giant - documented here

Here the headset a few weeks later (in my garage):