Originally Posted by
FBinNY
It never hurts to upgrade a bike you really like.
That said, I consider headsets the worst place to spend good money on. There are plenty of possible upgrades that offer more bang for the buck.
Gotta disagree. Headsets take more a beating than any of the other bearings on the bike. Wheel bearings spread the load and, more importantly, the impacts over 2 bearing surfaces. Crank bearings don’t experience that much load. For the headset, the load and impact are concentrated in the lower headset bearing, specifically at the back of the cup. It’s no wonder that headsets dimple and that threaded headsets loosen.
A headset like the Chris King is practically indestructible. The bearing takes the load better without deforming and they need little to no maintenance. I have a King headset that was installed in 2000 (yes, I keep records) and it is still going strong. I have another King headset that was used when it was installed in 2006, has been transferred to a second bike, has in excess of 26,000 miles on it, and has been problem free for that entire time. More importantly, it has be unmaintained that whole time. I consider it one of the best upgrades I’ve ever done on all my bikes.