About the headset bearingsĀ - back in my bike shop days, at one shop in particular we would ditch the stock retainer bearings in headsets and bottom brackets (up until Shimano rendered that obsolete) and replace them with a higher count of grade 20 balls and Campy grease on every bike that we built. Suffice to say this shop was more craft than profit, but our bikes held up for our customers.
So, yes, I get what you are saying. But my point was more about what comes as spec on a $2500 bike. At this price, and given the intended use of this bike, I would hope for something a little nicer than a low-count caged retainer and not-that-rad races. It can be made better with some thoughtful work during assembly, but very few shops are probably going out of the way to do shit like that anymore anyway, so then that becomes incumbent upon the owner. And not everyone knows to do this.
Feb. 7, 2022, 8:04 a.m. - Mike Ferrentino
About the headset bearingsĀ - back in my bike shop days, at one shop in particular we would ditch the stock retainer bearings in headsets and bottom brackets (up until Shimano rendered that obsolete) and replace them with a higher count of grade 20 balls and Campy grease on every bike that we built. Suffice to say this shop was more craft than profit, but our bikes held up for our customers. So, yes, I get what you are saying. But my point was more about what comes as spec on a $2500 bike. At this price, and given the intended use of this bike, I would hope for something a little nicer than a low-count caged retainer and not-that-rad races. It can be made better with some thoughtful work during assembly, but very few shops are probably going out of the way to do shit like that anymore anyway, so then that becomes incumbent upon the owner. And not everyone knows to do this.