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Anybody got any sick tricks to get a crown race on?

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Anybody got any sick tricks to get a crown race on?

Old 04-15-09, 11:48 AM
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Anybody got any sick tricks to get a crown race on?

So, i got pushed off the road by a bus and went headlong into a dumpster...bent my fork an inch back. After gettin that out i took my super convenient spare fork out of hiding and tried to set it up, but to no avail could i get the crown race on...i've tried setting it in the seat tube with another race facing it (which also doesnt fit) and ive tried hammers, screw drivers, vice grips, even sort filing the fork with the vice grips to get it a bit thinner.....yet, no luck...any suggestions?

my bike is an old steel miyata with original steel fork needing to be installed..the headset is a nashbar headset

many thanks!

-sean
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Old 04-15-09, 11:50 AM
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PVC pipe and hammer/mallet. Or take it to a bike shop like I did because I didn't feel like marring it. They did it for me in a minute for free.
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Old 04-15-09, 12:02 PM
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Originally Posted by sreilly845
So, i got pushed off the road by a bus and went headlong into a dumpster...bent my fork an inch back. After gettin that out i took my super convenient spare fork out of hiding and tried to set it up, but to no avail could i get the crown race on...i've tried setting it in the seat tube with another race facing it (which also doesnt fit) and ive tried hammers, screw drivers, vice grips, even sort filing the fork with the vice grips to get it a bit thinner.....yet, no luck...any suggestions?

my bike is an old steel miyata with original steel fork needing to be installed..the headset is a nashbar headset

many thanks!

-sean
Maybe trying to put an ISO (26.4mm) race on a JIS (27mm) seat?
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Old 04-15-09, 12:10 PM
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Any time I needed to do that, I got a vice with plastic blocks on it and held the fork upside down, sliding it between the blocks to hit the race while twisting it back and fourth to get it even. Crude but it worked.
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Old 04-15-09, 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted by lukasz
PVC pipe and hammer/mallet. Or take it to a bike shop like I did because I didn't feel like marring it. They did it for me in a minute for free.
This is the ticket if you don't want to spring for the actual tool - which is embarrassingly simple, but amazingly expensive (for what it is).

A decent shop WILL do this for free, as Lucasz states. It's literally a one-minute job with the right tool. I hope you were very careful when pulling the crown race off of the old fork. It's easy to mess up the part.
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Old 04-15-09, 12:20 PM
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okie dokie...ill prolly take it down there by the end of today, im already in bike withdrawl haha
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Old 04-15-09, 01:50 PM
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Originally Posted by sreilly845
So, i got pushed off the road by a bus and went headlong into a dumpster...bent my fork an inch back. After gettin that out i took my super convenient spare fork out of hiding and tried to set it up, but to no avail could i get the crown race on...i've tried setting it in the seat tube with another race facing it (which also doesnt fit) and ive tried hammers, screw drivers, vice grips, even sort filing the fork with the vice grips to get it a bit thinner.....yet, no luck...any suggestions?

my bike is an old steel miyata with original steel fork needing to be installed..the headset is a nashbar headset.
Crown race seats come in two distinct sizes: JIS (27.0mm) and ISO (26.4mm). Most forks have ISO race seats, but JIS was common on Japanese bikes for many years. You may be trying to force an ISO race onto a JIS seat. Don't force it; you could split the race.

Take the fork and race to a shop and have them check the race seat. It may just need to be milled to ISO diameter.
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Old 04-15-09, 03:15 PM
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Not that this would help you today, but Cyclus Tools from Germany makes a really nice headset-press. At least as nice as the Park Tool model that goes for $159 or so. Only (Bike Tools Etc) these are going for under $80:

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Old 04-15-09, 04:01 PM
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^that will not help today or any day, with his crown race.

OP-like suggested, PVC pipe.
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Old 04-15-09, 04:23 PM
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Has there been a crown race installed on this fork before? If not the seat might need to be machined to get the right fit. Bike shop should have the tool for it. I've done it with a file, but carefully and using calipers to check the diameter.
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Old 04-15-09, 04:51 PM
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yea, i'm thinkin it might be the wrong size because i had it on what i think was a ross fork (the one that is now bent to ****), ill run it over to the lbs
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Old 04-15-09, 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Dan Burkhart
Maybe trying to put an ISO (26.4mm) race on a JIS (27mm) seat?
We have a BINGO!

Installing a crown race isn't very hard to do if the parts have matching sizes.
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Old 04-15-09, 07:38 PM
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There is a special tool for "facing" the crown seat. Take it to your LBS. That's what I had to do with mine.

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Old 04-15-09, 10:22 PM
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Always get the headtube faced with a new bicycle. And the bottom-bracket. Average cost is around $15.00 for a headtube.
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Old 04-15-09, 10:26 PM
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If it the race is right size I use a piece of 1" pipe as a slide hammer.
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Old 04-16-09, 11:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Panthers007
Always get the headtube faced with a new bicycle. And the bottom-bracket. Average cost is around $15.00 for a headtube.
And the crown race seat on the fork, which was the subject here?
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Old 04-16-09, 08:12 PM
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Just last week I discovered that there is more that one "1-inch" headset. The LBS ended up swapping the ISO they had sold me for a JIS version because for some reason they decided they couldn't cut down the fork tube. (The most annoying part of this experience was that I had taken the fork in to make certain I got the correct part and even mentioned that it was an older Japanese bike; but that's another story.) I spent over an hour trying to get the smaller crown race started before I carefully compared the inside diameter of the old and new races. A subsequent search of BF archives was very educational. This problem has come up many times. What would we do without the Bike Forums?
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Old 04-16-09, 08:31 PM
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Shoot, I'm old school: flat punch and a hammer, and some care and patience..
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Old 04-16-09, 11:39 PM
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i like to use moments like this to justify the purchase of a $30 digital caliper. You will never keep up with Tool man Taylor if you dont keep buying tools.

;-)
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Old 04-17-09, 07:57 AM
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Wrap the fork in ice and put the race in the oven, the fork contracts and the race expands, slips right on.
Unless of course it is the wrong size, then disregard.
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Old 04-17-09, 12:29 PM
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Heat it up with a propane torch and drop it on.Done.
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