Originally Posted by TejanoTrackie

First off sweety, you need to take your midol and unbunch your panties. I just happen to know what brinelling is all about, as I specified bearings for machinery that I engineered in my business.

What you fail to realize is that Sheldon Brown was talking about steel cups, which have the bearing races machined directly into them, whereas aluminum cups need to have steel inserts to provide the bearing surface. Also, in the case of cartridge bearings, the races are integral to the bearings, and the cups themselves do not experience any direct contact with the bearings, nor does the so called fork crown race, which is merely a base for the cartridge.

So, again I'll state the fact that the hardness of the aluminum cup material is irrelevant to the proper design of a headset, as I'm sure the CK rep could have told you had you'd given him a chance.