Originally Posted by
fietsbob
Thing is Economy of scale, econ 101, a bike factory orders many a thousand pieces driving the cost down,
you may not find the bearings, bought separately, at such a reduced price
Thus the whole assembly may be less than just the bearings..
This is 100% accurate! It's far more work for me to replace any single part in an already used set of unknown origin than it is to just replace the entire thing. Now that I know how this works I could press in a proper fitting set and have it done in 20 minutes or less. I would spend far more time, money, energy searching for a new set of bearings and replacement parts than I would buying a sub $20 headset and calling it done.