Originally Posted by
desconhecido
The best black threaded headset for less than $50 is probably the Stronglight A9 that Ben's is offering. This headset is no longer made, but Ben's still lists the headset and the replacement bearing sets.
It's not cartridge bearings -- it's roller bearings -- but it's probably as good a headset as anything less than $100.
ADDED: in general, the A9 headsets were not considered to be prone to "indexing." And, if you did have problems with the bearings, you could pop in a replacement set of bearings/races without difficulty.
There's a British shop, SJS, that lists the A9 as "cartridge" bearings at about 33 GBP.
The original A9 headset introduced in the mid-1980s used roller bearings. These have not been manufactured in many years, but there seems to be old stock widely available still. The current headsets marketed as A9 by Stronglight do use cartridge bearings. I don't know how well the cartridges hold up, but here some pictures of A9 races I installed in my commuter bike in 1987 and did not touch, lubricate, or anything but ride for 20 years:
They held up pretty well. I repacked and reinstalled them and will check them again in 2027.