Has anyone replaced the stock headset bearings with some 'premium' bearings, such as NTN, NSK, SKF, Enduro etc.? Or can you advise how your stock bearings are holding up?
I'm about to begin building my bike up and am debating swapping the bearings out in the hope that more premium bearings would last longer as I don't want the hassle of having to re-do all of the cable routing due to the stock headset bearings wearing out.
The problem is, I can't find any from a named manufacturer online in the size I need (P16 52x7x45 degrees).
Any advise would be appreciated
Honestly, if your bearings are seated and loaded properly, I don't see them wearing out any time soon. They spin, what, 1/4 turn to either side at the most? Unless you're doing 50 miles of slaloms, the only issue I can think of is them getting banged around from being too loose in the cups. If you tighten your headset down too much, you wouldn't be able to turn your bars.
Others might have different advice.
That being said, I don't know how different the 168 is from the 099, but I installed a set of FSA ACR bearings to my TT-X21/VBR-099 and they fit fine. I also anguished over all the standards and measurements but, in the end, went with the FSA set because they told me I could return it if I needed to. Also in the end, all I really needed was a set of microspacers for my stock set.
Good luck!