I need a decent quality 1" threaded headset with no more than a 33mm stack height and a 26.4mm crown race. I'd prefer aluminum because steel ones rust before they wear out where I live, but the aluminum ones I've found are too tall. Can someone tell me where I can buy such a thing?

All I've been able to find is a steel Tange or Ritchey Logic. I hate to admit it, but I bought a beautiful NOS Shimano 600 from Loose Screws without thinking about stack height. It's way too tall. Anybody got a steer tube stretcher I can borrow?

I have a '92 Trek 1420 with the same problem. Trek cut the steerer to JUST fit the OEM Tange Levin headset with no spacers. When the Tange died (after only 2000 miles) I was able to replace it with a Shimano 600 loose bearing headset with the same stack height of about 33 mm.

When the 600 died after 15,000 additional miles, I was unable to find a decent headset to replace it as the newer Ultegra cartridge bearing headset had a stack height of about 37 mm. I wound up biting the bullet and replacing the fork and headset with a threadless upgrade.

If the cost isn't a deal breaker, Chris King headsets can be set up with very short stack heights. Otherwise, I'm afraid your stuck with the cheap and fragile Tange or Ritchey headsets.

I decided to go with a Tange Passage I found on eBay. Tange and Ritchey steel headsets are fragile? Are they made from inferior steel?

I don't know if the steel is "inferior" or they are poorly sealed but my experience with them is they don't last very well. As I noted above, the OEM Tange on my Trek was brinelled badly enough to require replacement in about 2000 miles while its Shimano replacemrnt lasted seven times as long.

I'm not sure that poor sealing leads to brinneling, but I'll accept what you say because I have no experience with cheap headsets. The steel Stronglight on my PX10 has lasted for 33 years and it has no seals at all. It seems to me that soft steel is a more likely explanation.

I have to wonder if the bearings hadn't been adjusted properly for the set to shuck out so soon..