Originally Posted by
tarwheel
I used a Tange Levin once, and it became brinnelled after only about one year of use. It was installed by a bike shop that I've used for a long time and trust.
In contrast, I have had excellent performance and durability from Velo-Orange, Chris King and Campy Record headsets. The VO headsets are a tremendous value, IMHO, and they have sealed bearings, which I prefer. I have heard many recommendations over the years for Stronglight headsets, but are they still in production? I tried to purchase one once and had a hard time finding except old used ones on eBay.
Unfortunately Stronglight had ceased production of the needle bearing style headsets like the A9, the Delta and a few later iterations of the same needle bearing design. You can still find some needle bearing style Stronglight headsets out there, but they will cost about a hundred bucks NOS if you do find them, the A9's a bit more.
Stronglight did follow through with a current version of the A9, but they now employ cartridge bearings, which might last longer than conventional caged or loose bearing headsets but I think not as long as the previous needle bearing type. Kinda de-evolution on Stronglight's part, IMO.
You can still buy copies of the A9 and Delta needle bearing headset though, and for very reasonable prices. Check ot Miche's latest version of their Primato headset. I have one installed currently on my ALAN, and so far it seems to be performing just as well as the A9's and Deltas on my other bikes.....
BTW,try to avoid getting the "B. Hinault" version of the A9. Don't have anything against the enterprising "Badger", but the Delrin cups on those A9's do sometimes tend to crack when exposed too much/too long to UV light...