kings are good. if they are overpriced then so are the Solo's 
I've seen very few failures of kings or their bearings. Sure there are aways a few. You don't have to ride in the NW or NE to have it pay off. It only takes being caught in the rain a couple times whether it be in colorado, arizona, or cali. There is a difference in the quality of sealed bearings too. They are better than the old ball and race but I've seen the cheap ones fail as often as ball and race headsets. I haven't looked specifically at the cc s-3 so I can't comment.
Facing is important though with precision sealed cartridge bearings. I remember talking to gary klein serveral times about the lack of facing and quality of his head tubes on his non proprietary stuff.
I've seen very few failures of kings or their bearings. Sure there are aways a few. You don't have to ride in the NW or NE to have it pay off. It only takes being caught in the rain a couple times whether it be in colorado, arizona, or cali. There is a difference in the quality of sealed bearings too. They are better than the old ball and race but I've seen the cheap ones fail as often as ball and race headsets. I haven't looked specifically at the cc s-3 so I can't comment.
Facing is important though with precision sealed cartridge bearings. I remember talking to gary klein serveral times about the lack of facing and quality of his head tubes on his non proprietary stuff.