The new Industry Nine iRiX headset takes its CNC expertise and pairs it with Enduro bearings to create a lightweight option you can customize in any combination of 11 colors, three styles, and two top cap heights.
Inside, though, are details that make it even more adjustable and fully serviceable, giving you a very functional way to upgrade your road, gravel, or mountain bike.
Available in EC (External Cup), ZS (Zero Stack), and IS (Integrated), you can choose from any of the 11 anodization colors Industry Nine offers. Mix and match the lower cup, upper cup, top cover, and stem cap in any combination you want.
Top caps are available in 5mm and 15mm heights, and Industry Nine offers color-matched headset spacers (sold separately) in 2.5/5/10/20mm heights too. It’s worth noting that the 5mm and 15mm top cap measurements are for the IS headset. The EC and ZS will be slightly taller due to the external cups adding height (ZS use bearings that drop into the frame, adding no height to the design).
They’re lightweight too, saving up to 28 g of a typical stock headset. Compared to the 89g IS headset that came on my Niner RKT, the 5mm top cap combo weighed in at just 61 g (28g savings), and the 15mm top cap combo was 68 g (21g savings).
A few other features set its headsets apart. The crown race has a replaceable double-lip silicone seal …
… that creates a barrier against grit and grime getting into the bearing and frame. Bearings are stainless steel, made by Enduro, and come with a lifetime warranty.
Inside the top cover is another replaceable silicone seal, which sits just above a groove that the split compression ring snaps into. The silver spacer shown sitting in there is one of two included 0.2mm spacers, to be used to adjust the top cover clearance on the frame.
To install them, snap the compression ring out, then start sliding the spacers in through the notch until you’re able to snap them fully into the groove.
Then snap the compression ring back into place. A double-lip outer seal helps keep crud from getting inside here too.
While I loved the slammed spacer look, any slight out-of-tolerance issues or overly thick paint or clearcoat can cause the top cap to rub during steering rotation. The IS spacers let you lift it ever-so-slightly to provide enough clearance to prevent it from rubbing your frame.
Installed, the iRiX headset looks stellar, with the indented stem cap keeping things low profile.
It’s not just the bearings that have a lifetime warranty, the entire headset is guaranteed against defects for life.
MSRP from $160-190 for single-color headsets. Add $15 for multicolor combos.
