I finally got round to taking a look at my headset on my Genesis core 40, I had noticed a couple of months back that there was a grinding feeling when steering, but since the bike was purchased in the back end of September - I though nothing of it - wearing in maybe?.
But yeah, opened it up; crown race had rusted along with the caged bearings.
Just surprised on how fast my headset died, got one on order with sealed bearings from Hope. Would have thought a British designed bike would have faired a bit better against muck 🙁
first thing i would recommend on almost any new bike is to make sure the headset/pedals/hubs/BB and any pivot bearings actually have some grease in them.
much cheaper than replacing any of the above.
3 months of manky English weather? Headset on my Lapierre lasted less than a month - a couple of wet rides. It had no sealing to speak of at all.
People don't tend to look for a quality headset when they buy a bike, so manufacturers tend to cut the budget in this area so they can spec better rear derailleur, chainset or whatever.