Headset advice/ Utah dust

[MarsB]

Need to replace the headset on my old Kona Unit. I had great luck running FSA Pigs for years back in WV, but with the local moon dust seems like it might not be wise to run a non-sealed headset in Northern Utah. Should I stick with the Pig, or try a sealed headset? Just need an inexpensive but durable 1 1/8 headset. I was thinking an Orbit or similar.

[mntlion]

find another pig. They are cheap to replace if/when needed

[bagtagley]

Never having to think about your headset again is worth whatever additional cost for sealed, which can't be that much. What size?

[detrusor]

Buy a king. Install, forget.

[gravitylover]

I prefer the Cane Creek 100. If it comes down to $$ the 40 is sufficient for most of us.

[El Chupacabra]

I prefer the Cane Creek 100. If it comes down to $$ the 40 is sufficient for most of us.

That 40-year warranty sometimes is just not enough.

(I've never had a CC cartridge headset fail - S2 and variations, 40s, and a lone 110 on a tourer.)

[mntlion]

I have a 1 1/8 chris king headset, black for sale.... $80US plus shipping

[SJG]

Cane Creek 40 is perfect for what you need.

[jamal]

I've toasted a couple of cane creek cartridge bearings, but they are cheap and easy to replace. Riding in the wet is what does it in my experience. The lower ones especially will stay wet and grimey and that will work it's way past the seals, so taking them out and wiping them off does help. On my last road bike I took off the dust cap to get the stem lower, uh, yeah, those work- bearing only lasted a few months.

[Touring_Sedan]

I've never ruined a sealed or unsealed headset in the Utah moondust. Bottom brackets.... different story.

[creaky fossil]

Cane Creek 40 is bulletproof for me, we get plenty of microdust come mid-July or so 'til fall rains settle in. Ran a 40 from 2011 'til about 2 months ago on my trail bike, only swapped it out because I went from 1 1/8 to a taper fork. Was still running fine.

I don't wash my bikes with jet water, I don't use soapy water or degreasers on the bike. I don't intentionally ride in the rain very often either.

The cheap, unsealed Pig would be fine if you are yourself fine with routine bearing maintenance. It's not tough, but you have to do it fairly regularly if you run unsealed commonly in either wet or dust extremes. Isn't there a sealed Pig these days?

But that's probably about as spendy as a Cane Creek 40.