Originally Posted by
Earl Grey
So, I dropped the race in boiling water for a minute or two (by my calculations, this would only give me a few hundredths of a mm larger diameter, but that could be all the difference), set the fork back on the 2x4 and channeled a non-wimpy guy when I hit it. Looks to be seated perfectly now with no harm done to fork, steerer or race.
Thanks all!
Glad it worked out. Yes, crown races often take a really solid whack to seat them. Too late to ask but did you grease the steerer seat area and the inside of the race itself? That makes seating easier also.
There are some headsets with a "split" crown race that easily installs with just finger pressure but they are only provided with cartridge bearing headsets where the crown "race" is just a support plate for the bottom bearing.