VP FAQ

Stepstak: Improving the Integrated Headset
The principal disadvantage, and potential weakness, of integrated headsets is the difficulty machining accurate surfaces to accommodate the bearings and maintaining the accuracy of these surfaces during the manufacturing process.

There is a further design weakness in that loads applied to the bearings during riding are not distributed through the axis of the headset assembly. Part of the load is transferred to the walls at an angle to the bearing axis. These loads have the potential to deform the headtube and these forces, combined with possible inaccuracies in the machined bearing faces of the headtube could result in failure of the headset assembly and the headtube.

Stepstak integrated headsets address these problems by using a bearing insert to sit on a machined step in the headtube.

1. Headtube machining is straightforward and the bearing insert accommodates a reasonable tolerance between the bearings and the headtube without affecting the performance of the headset.

2. No tools are required for assembly or disassembly.

3. Upper and lower bearings are automatically concentric as the radiuses of the bearing insert centre the radiused surfaces of the bearings.

4. The bearing insert offers a large interface to the machined surface of the headtube reducing the chance of damage to the headtube. The bearing insert is replaceable.

5. During riding the main loads on the bearings are in the same axis as the bearings.

6. The insert is for 45 bearings

7. The bearing insert offers an integrated headset with all the advantages of a semi-integrated type but with minimum external stack height.

*The Stepstak headset design is patented by VP Components.