Originally Posted by
63rickert
Worry about it less. Unless you have some specially horrible local grit there's no reason to service a headset frequently. Will assume that this bike does not see a lot of rain, that you use the fender bikes on rain days. Will assume a '72 Pro does not see trail riding. Headsets die from brinelling. Brinell is primarily caused by too tight bearings, not ordinary wear. Or they die from long miles with completely dry/absent grease.
Perhaps installing a less dear headset would still your fears. The shop I worked at took all the variant/oddball/non-catalog Raleighs and Carltons that showed up at Raleigh Midwest. Pros and Flyers did come with every imaginable headset. None of them were wrong. Even Hattas and Tanges showed up in early 70s. Brampton frequently. Plain Raleigh headsets. If you want to do the shorty fender at least get Bluemels.
I don't agree with the first paragraph. Without trail riding, I've had several Record lower bearing parts wear and become indented due to insufficient lubrication. I've stopped looking for reasonably-priced replacements. These vintage Campagnolo parts are not that common and are collectibles. If one wants to keep using them one should do what it takes to protect them from premature wear out. As beutiful as they both to look at and to feel as they help the bike function, Campy did not include decent sealing for the bottom bearing. Perhaps they assumed the dedicated or professional racers would regrease on a schedule, or perhaps after every outing. 20 years ago, perhaps, we could source replacement parts. Now we can only do so based on luck.
Narhay, if you want to keep using this fantastic frame, get yourself a replacement headset that has readily available replacement parts or excellent sealing. Put the Super Record on a wall hanger, or in a display case.