JB, you're a veritble mine of information. Based on your description, I have to then say that the race is dented, not pitted. Whether or not this is caused by fretting or some other cause is not known. If you let me know where you're based, I will try and get the race to you so you can have a look at it. I do also have to add, that I put far more grease on both the bearing and the race than was absolutely necessary. I know that this is not an absolute guarantee that it will prevent pitting, because the ball bearing will squeeze the grease out over time, prob'ly caused by the vibration from the road surface and the pressure of the ball against the race as only a very small area of both will be in contact at any one time. But all the same, I used liberal amounts of grease. It was / is good quality wheel bearing grease (Agip). I know that there is minimal turning of the bearings during riding thus preventing the grease from being spread over the surface. What I do find confusing though, is that this is the only bike I have ever had that has this problem and not just once, but twice. So perhaps there is some other underlyinig problem that we have not identified. I did not notice any flaking at all in either case when I replaced / repaired the bearing sets, so it's unlikely that the ball bearings themselves have failed. It is the bearing race and only the bottom one. (The one attached to the fork) The dents themselves did not look shiny to me, but have to admit that I did not subject the race to that much inspection last night. I was more concerned with getting the job done. I have keptthe part though so both old "pitted / dented" bearing races are available for inspection. I can relate to the flaking and pitting of balls and races as this is another problem area I have experienced with the bottom bracket races and balls. I have seen the effects of flaking and pitting. Two weekends ago, I pulled out three balls that were flat on various areas of the three balls. Several years ago, I replaced the races on both sides of the bike because both cups were well worn and one was fairly severely pitted in one spot. Whilst I have your attention, a friend suggested that I replace my ball bearing and cups with a more modern sealed crank. Is this possible on my rather antiquated peejou?