Greatestalltime

I’ve purchased mostly only the FSA for my TCR, which gets wet often, and one for my Pina FB.
The f8 one was 60$ from backcountry. The FSA is usually 30$ ish from eBay.

So I decided to buy some bearings from AliExpress for between 2-5$ depending on size. I received them and don’t see much, if any, difference besides they don’t come with the washers or crown race.

Has anyone else purchased cheaper ones and what’s your experience? I can’t see paying for an expensive headset bearing again.

shelbyfv

You might want to post a review after you've used those awhile. Also, maybe consider at least a vestigial front fender for your rain bike.

Greatestalltime

Yes. I will.

I can’t see how they could rust faster than the FSA, but I’ve been wrong so many times before when trying to save some cash. So...

veganbikes

Cheap bearings use cheaper materials that are less precisely manufactured. The bearing balls are probably much less hard and the races might be as well so in the end less precision and quicker wear/deformities. A decent headset will last a long time a cheap one probably not long.

If you think you are cheating the system by purchasing a cheap product because on the surface it looks close enough you are only cheating yourself. A bearing is not really a place to save a ton of money as bearings are not ridiculously expensive unless looking at ceramic stuff. Phil Wood bearings which are really high quality are only like 5-30 bucks or so depending on the bearing ID. Enduro bearings are also around the same and go up for nicer bearings. The new SKF MTRX solid oil bearings are around $20 on up and would probably last for a long time since no grease to wash out it is suspended in polymer. Not all that expensive for occasional replacement and for the SKF ones you are probably going to have a much longer life out of them. I haven't installed it yet but I have one of the Cane Creek bottom brackets that use the SKF MTRX system and if all goes according to plan I probably will never have to replace the dang thing.

merlinextraligh

Why did you have to buy bearings for your headset? With modern equipment, I just don’t recall replacing a headset bearing in the last 20 years or so. I’ve got bikes with 30,000 plus miles and their original headset bearings.

chaadster

Yeah, headset bearings are not really a “thing” for me either, so having familiarity with frequent changes seems quite strange.

Cane Creek guarantees their 110 series headsets for life, including the bearings.

Greatestalltime

Man. You guys are good or fortunate or have much better bearings. On my rain bike, a TCR advanced sl, I just replaced bearings after 3 months. Yes. There was a lot of rain.

They are FSA bearings and you can see rust “drippage” not too long after installing them and rising in the rain. A month or two. Then a few months later they are done. So done it felt like I couldn’t steer.

It rains quite a bit here in KY I guess. Either way great job on your headsets. Yeah my other two bikes don’t get wet and the headsets stay clean.

chaadster

Greatestalltime Yeah, lotsa rain’ll do it. I’ve been caught in heavy rain riding out of Frankfort, but man, the roads y’all have down around there are well worth it! My club has been doing a camp down there the past three years, so I get to enjoy riding there every once in awhile.

The Campagnolo BB on my rain bike gets the business, but I still get two or three years out of it. I’d thought that was bad, but if you’re only getting a few months out of headset bearings, I’ll shut up and be grateful!

merlinextraligh

I still think something is off here. Admittedly, rain will accelerate bearing wear. However, head set bearings just don’t take the same load as bottom brackets or hubs.

I live in Florida next to salt water and at least used to frequently ride, race , in the rain, and just never experienced anything like this.

Headset bearings at 3 months, even in tough conditions suggests something else is off. Just one possibility are you tightening the top cap really tight? The top cap is just for bearing pre load and doesn’t secure the stem, so it shouldn’t be overly torqued

WhyFi

When people are having taint issues that last longer than your headset bearings, both y'all are doing something wrong.

Iride01 

So what's different about your riding environment? Too alkaline or acidic? Are you someone that sweats excess salt and maybe that corrodes anything it touches.

Rain in itself shouldn't really be an issue. Even the cheap Walmart bikes I bought my kids had no issues with bearings when they left them out in the rain and caked with mud.

I've never had to replace bearings or races, though some came close to needing it before that bike went to the scrapyard.

Psimet2001 

1- in the shop I have seen a ton of rusted headset bearings that have been pushed too far past their need to be replaced.
2- It's almost always because whomever assembled the bike never put any grease on the outside of the bearing cartridge when they installed it.
3- Sounds like you're putting the bearing in without greasing it on the outside. When riding in rain that will almost assuredly lead to rust.
4- Life is too short to mess with cheap no-name or non-spec headset bearings. It's just not worth it.
Get the right bearings from an actual headset OEM and install them properly and you should seldom have any issues.

Greatestalltime

No. I don’t over tighten that. You may be on to something though. That bike was at the shop because they were putting a new (actually attempting to-they had the wrong size) compression plug in because mine was damaged by a car hitting me.

They put in a new headset then thinking that would fix the problem. And the problem was that the existing expander was turning as you’d try to set the pre set load.

Then when I took it apart while waiting on the part and still riding it (some) I noticed it was very rusty again. Cleaned and greased it and it seemed fine.

They put in the new expander and when I rode it it was like turning a large boat. Took it back and they said the bearing was toast.

Long story long—I feel like for a headset the Chinese bearings might be ok for my TCR. But never my De Rosa or F8. But I’m not sure why not. They seem identical so far.

The same kids in China may be making them both.

Greatestalltime

Maybe my basement doesn’t allow it to dry well. I’ve had headsets last much longer in the past. In 2018 a record was set in Louisville and it rained like 290 days. Those bearings made it and I rode literally everyday.

I don’t think I checked them very often, but I think I remember the rust dripping mixed with the water from the headset.

Iride01 

Though we don't know what a basement is down here, I'm from the north and grew up with basements. None we or any of my extended family members had in their homes was anything but dry and cool. If yours is wet or feels wet, you've got more than just bike issues.

Perhaps for the bike and other things just keep a box fan pointed at it for a few days after it's been ridden in the wet.