Well...I rode over to Belmont Wheelworks, took 5 minutes by bike to get there, 15 minutes waiting for someone to help me, another 5 minutes for him to figure out his billing mistake (long story nor worth repeating), then 5 minutes riding home. I came home with a tub of 75 Grade 25 5/'32" ball bearings. Time to open a beer.

I repacked the headset with 22 balls top and bottom and lots of Phil Wood grease (though lack of lubricant was not a problem). It's quite smooth now, not unexpected considering it went from 16 balls to 22 so they can't all drop into existing slots at the same time. No obvious indexing or free play. I'm going to ride it and see how it does. It doesn't exactly get daily usage so this may take a while. The crown race and lower HT race may wear away and I'll be able to tell by how it loosens up. In the meantime it seems just fine.

There is one interesting feature about the VO headset I hadn't notice before. With my Peugeot headset you assemble it by inverting the frame, packing the lower race with grease and bearings, insert the fork, turn the frame over holding the fork in the frame so the lower bearings don't fall out, then pack the upper race. The upper race on the VO headset is inverted, with the upper HT race facing outward and the threading portion being concave facing inward. That means you have to keep the frame inverted, pack the upper race, then thread it onto the steerer tub upward. It works just fine, just different from what I expected.