DiTBho

(Rudelli Headset, 1")

Completely different approaches and materials, what do you think is the best one for a road bicycle?

Chombi1 

Sometimes, it pays to go with the simpler component, as it will more likely be more reliable.
the Rudelli looks cool, but it seems to be "over-engineered", compared to the Victory headset.
Being such, the Rudelli might be harder to service and maintain, in the long run......

JohnDThompson 

Tapered roller bearings combine high load-handling with low friction, but are pretty fussy about alignment. Cylindrical roller bearing like used in the Stronglight A9 and Tange RollerDrive have similar load handling to tapered rollers, but slightly higher friction because of sliding contact along the roller. This makes them less costly than tapered rollers and the floating races on the Stronglight and Tange units make them more tolerant of misalignment than tapered rollers. Since a headset is not in constant rotation like a hub or bottom bracket, the slight friction isn't a functional issue. The Campagnolo Victory is essentially a Campagnolo Gran Sport headset with slightly different cosmetics. The races are parabolic ground to allow minor misalignment, and use standard balls. While not as durable in principle as a roller bearing headset, it is entirely acceptable durability in use and lower friction than either roller bearing design.

DiTBho

I can buy a brand new (NOS) Rudelli for 50 euro, while a Campy Victory (NOS) is about 130 euro, and very difficult to find.
I'm carefully considering the purchase, but I also wanted to understand on a principle level what was better.

Thanks guys!

Road Fan

rollers or tapered rollers? Stronglight are rollers, not tapered. I don’t really know about Rudelli, but I’ve measured Stronglight needles, and they are not tapered to a degree I can measure with a digital caliper.

does it make a difference? Not sure but I think the Stronglight setup should be cheaper to manufacture. If accurately made, I’d think the Rudelli would be slightly smoother.

Road Fan

where can I get that deal? I thought they would be a lot higher!

JohnDThompson 

Yes, that's why I referred to the Stronglight and Tange rollers as "cylindrical rollers."

It makes a small difference. The difference in track radius from the inner end of a cylindrical roller to the outer end of a cylindrical roller means that some parts of the roller will be in sliding contact with the race instead of rolling contact. A tapered roller addresses this by having a different radius on the roller ends, smaller at the inner end and larger at the outer end, so the entire length of the roller is in rolling contact with the race, resulting in lower friction in the bearing. But as I noted in my previous comment, it's not a meaningful difference for a headset, since a headset is not in constant rotation, like a hub or bottom bracket bearing would be.

Yes, as I pointed out earlier, cylindrical rollers are less costly to implement and more forgiving of minor misalignment than tapered rollers.

Reynolds 

My experience with roller headsets is very limited, but the ones I've seen appeared to be more prone to "brinelling" than ball bearing headsets. Could it be?

DiTBho

which one? the Rudelli or the Victory?

• Rudelli headset, from an Italian dude on eBay, who works as a professional photographer, but occasionally cleans out warehouses, and sometimes finds interesting things, in NOS/mint conditions.
• Victory headset, for the titanium bike I'm building, I got one from a craftsman who paints steel frames and builds handcrafted forks. He has a few things in stock, and if he is int the right moon - it can help if you also commission him a NivaCrom steel fork - he'll give you great prices for the rest too. He said that 120 euro NOS with its original box was a really good price, and that he couldn't do better. True, because on eBay I have seen prices above 200 euros

one of my friends has some headphones that he bought as good deal some headsets as just in case bicycles assembly, I mean if happens, you are ready with some parts - but which he probably won't use:

• Atena 1" headeset, NOS, English threaded, paid 80 euro
• Mirage 1997 1" headset, NOS, English threaded, paid 40 euro

Three days before Christmas 2023, I picked up the Moser Forma bike I talked about it and I put a photo in another topic here (click) on the forum, and, then, having to replace the headstem with a shorter one (from 120mm to 95mm), I found the a Rudelli headset installed. unfortunately damaged. So, I looking around, I found, by sheer luck, one on eBay NOS as a good deal.


edit:
link, typos

DiTBho

which model/brand?

Reynolds 

I don't remember, it was some years ago.

mpetry912 

that's a real neat part, I especially like the colleted upper nut that compresses as you tighten it.

that said, I would not install that on a bike I was going to ride. No spare parts available and more complicated than it needs to be.

I have had VERY good luck with the Stronglight A9 roller headsets, 1000s of trouble free miles. On several bikes I just use the lower portion, leaving the upper cup Campagnolo parts in place

ALSO - the comment about alignment of the headtube faces - the Stronglight A9 and I beleive this Rudelli unit, have conical "slip plates" that make them more tolerant of minor mis-alignment. The Galli headset with it's true tapered roller bearings required very accurate headtube facing. This unit should not require any special treatment in that regard.

/markp

/markp

JohnDThompson 

Are you referring to the fretting damage that leads to "indexed steering?" My experience is the opposite: ball bearing headsets suffer fretting damage much more readily than roller bearing headsets. I actually did an experiment with a Stronglight A9 roller bearing headset, where I installed it on my commuter bike and rode it in all sorts of weather and conditions without doing any maintenance, for 20 years (1986 to 2006), then opened it up and examined the races. The only thing I could see was slight discoloration on the lower races. I swapped upper and lower races and repacked it, and will take another look in 2026 to see how it has fared (although, since I retired in 2016, it's not getting ridden as much these days).

JohnDThompson 

That's essentially what the Tange "RollerDrive" headset is: cylindrical rollers on the bottom race for load handling, balls on the upper race since the upper race only serves to maintain alignment,

https://www.somafabshop.com/shop/297...gory=979#attr=


Only the early Galli headsets used tapered roller bearings; later ones were rebranded Stronglight A9s, probably because of the alignment fussiness of the tapered roller version.

Chombi1 

I'd always choose the Stronglight A9 headset over any headset. They are smooth and lasts forever with minimum adjustments.
they are also quite simple and the needle bearings are still available oit there if you ever need them. Same goes gor the top and bottom steel races Just keep them lubricated and they can last the life of the bike. The oldest one I have is the original one on my 1984 Peugeot PSV. It is still going strong to this day.