Fsa Pig?
 

My friend needs a headset that can take a lot of abuse but still be cheap. He doesnt want to spend anymore that $45. Ive heard a lot about the FSA PIG being good and its only $20. Does anyone have any experience with this headset and is it strong?

They are very strong.

I was recommended the pig by pwrd and maelstrom when I was looking at building my freeride hardtail.

Cheap, strong, long lasting, not light. Perfect in my little world :)

Sounds like a good deal. Ill tell him thats the one to get.

Here's a trick. If you want to make it extra durable and stronger, ditch the bearing retainer and run loose balls. If you get rid of the retainer, you can add an extra ball in there. The upper uses 5/32" balls and the lower uses 1/4" balls. Another headset you might want to consider for strength is the Pig DH Pro which uses cartridge bearings.

Funny, I was just going to post about ditching the retainer. If you do ditch the retainer, the way I always learned to set up a headset with loose bearings was to pack in as many bearings as possible, and then take two out to leave some room... this is how I set up my Tank headset... kinda the same idea as the Pig. For price, and ease of rebuilding I'm a fan of loose ball headsets for aggressive use. On the road or XC I use cartridge bearings, but for some unjustified reason I just don't trust them in more aggressive bikes.

This applies to any ball\retainer fitted headset? (excluding the ball size.)

It should. The size of the balls is irrelevant because the number of balls is reduced due to the extra space taken up by the retainer cage. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I've never had it not work though but I haven't tried this out on every headset imaginable.