How to make your headset last longer

New head please

I recently had to replace a headset when making a change of forks. Budget being what it was (i.e.completely blown by the purchase of some new forks) I couldn't afford a King headset. With a new arrival in the family lately I have a lot less spare cash to blow on bling MTB parts. And on a 1.5" steerer, the choice of headset is quite limited.

Miss Piggy

Pig 1.5"

Basically, I needed a headset, star nut and top cap bundle. My final choice being FSA's solid (all steel, heavy) open bearing (cheap) Big Fat Pig. It's not incredible - the stack height is not small (29mm), it weighs the best part of a pound (345g). But, as far as it goes, it's nicely made, like almost every other FSA part I've owned.

In the 1.5" standard size, it is their budget offering...

Muppets

...which gets a huge mixture of reviews. A large portion of reviewers are complaining that it rusts very quickly.

Ok, guys, here's how you stop your headset rusting:

Use this everywhere.

TA-DAA! Yes, that's right, the punchline of this posting is - a tub of grease and the two minutes it takes to wodge that grease into the headset.

Now, I'm convinced that this is the problem people have with this headset, as it doesn't come with any grease on it, it comes dry. If you don't stuff it full of grease, it is going to rust, that's what steel does, if you fill the bearings with grease, it won't rust and will last for ages, and then you don't have to complain about it falling apart and rush off and buy a King headset. We call this maintenance.