Look, a road headset is the least of your worries! Any decent headset will last a very long time. I had a Stronglight that had over 40,000 miles on it when I removed it from a wrecked bike I had and it never failed even after taking a blow that bent the fork and head tube and is currently on another bike (but that bike is now is disrepair). My current headset is a Suntour Superbe that is 19 years old and has just over 80,000 miles with never a problem. I personally think Chris King is overpriced. I think any decent headset made by Ritchy Logic, FSA, Cane Creek, Tange, Campy, Shamano, Stronglight (still made?) all around the $50 dollar range should all last far more than 10 years! In all my years of racing and general riding I have never seen a headset fail and only seen one come loose and that includes cheaper $30 dollar ones! Heck, I have some cheapo crappola headsets on kids bikes that have been abused and they still work just fine-granted they don't have more than 2,000 miles-but they have been crashed into anything and everything, left outside during rains or in the yard when sprinklers came on, never been maintained etc.