I would first disassemble the headset, and clean, regrease, and reassemble with loose balls. The fact that they can move around should help spread the loads over time. If it can be adjusted correctly with no binding as it turns, you're home free for as much life as the HS has left, and just need to clean and regrease once a year or so depending on use.
If it cannot be adjusted correctly, you should make sure all the races have uniformly good surfaces, at the very least free of pitting and brinelling. The most certain way to achieve this is to replace everything with NOS, but you might be able to just replace the worn (most likely) lower bearing parts.
I've often wished some skilled CR member could re-machine NR races.
On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 8:36 PM, jeff holt <jefflaw@msn.com> wrote:
>
> Need some CR advice....
> Made the "mistake" of installing an Campy NR headset using the ball bearing
> retainer v. loose balls when I re-assembled my Cinelli this summer. The
> result, brinelling (a/k/a indexed steering).
> I've received some conflicting advice:
> Option A) Simply replacing the ball bearing retainer with loose balls can
> eliminate the problem. Option B) Replace the entire headset as the only way
> to eliminate the problem.
> Option C) Leave it alone & ride the bike. (This option seems plausible, as
> when I actually ride, I don't notice a problem.)
> Thoughts & Opinions?
> Jeff Holt
> West Deptford, NJ
> USA
>
> _______________________________________________
>
--
Ken Freeman
Ann Arbor, MI USA