Hello, I have a single speed aluminum road bike frame. It uses a traditional press in headset (cane creek). It came with a chromoly fork, very heavy. I have a full carbon Ritchey Pro fork that I used with a integrated headset, it still has the integrated crown race on it. My question is, how can I use the Ritchey Fork with my frame? I went to my lbs and they said I cant use the crown race on my chromoly fork because it was press in, and buy a integrated headset.... However, my traditional head tube is not integrated, it doesn't have the machined cup like my road bike had.... What can I do? Thanks for your time.

Not familiar with that fork, but assuming it has a standard 26.4mm diameter crown seat, why can't you remove the race and install the one that comes with your headset?

https://www.ritcheylogic.com/dyn_prodfamily.php?k=394067


That is my fork, it has a 45mm crown diameter.

No it doesn't, it's a standard 1-1/8" fork so it has a standard 30mm crown diameter. The 45mm dimension in the spec. is the rake, or forward placement of the axle over the forks axis.

If it's like the pictured fork, there's no crown race installed yet.

BTW- I apologize for the reference to 26.4mm which is the crown dimension for 1" forks. I work mainly in 1" forks so wasn't thinking, and forgot that most stuff today is 1-1/8".

Sweet... So its like you said, uninstall the crown race on the chromoly fork and install it on the carbon fork. I told the lbs guy that and he said you cant... The picture is from the website, my carbon fork has an integrated crown race installed by my other lbs guy. I've used that fork on a road bike I used to have that had an integrated headset. My current road bike single speed has a traditional press in headset.

https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...wift_track.htm

That is my bike with Chromoly fork.

AFAIK, few forks are married to any particular headset (through frames may be), so unless you have a fork made specifically to work with a specific headset and frame, you should be able to do what you want. The referenced fork is a standard replacement fork and takes any standard crown according to the headset used.

However, there are caveats (aren't there always). On some forks the 30mm diameter is carried up the head tube beyond the standard 8mm or so, and can interfere with the ID of a pressed in headset. You can check that easily enough with a caliper, or by sliding the lower cup down the fork and seeing if it jams.

The second issue is that many crown races are difficult to remove because they're smaller than the fork's crown, and you can't get behind them. There are ways to do this and some tools made for the job, but your dealer may be ill equipped for the task.