Chris King crownrace (very tight fit?)

Hi there!

Been trying to fit my i7 onto my forks today (a pair of carbon whisky 9's) Bit worried about the seemingly very tight fit, which has been stopping me from installing it. My question is, do other people experience the King' crown races to be a almost disturblingly tight fit, and do i need to worry about installing it? Headset i used before was with a split ring option, which was smooth as butter to install.

Cheers!

Crown races are a press fit so designed to be very tight. It won’t go on by hand. It’s fine :)

Thanks a lot mate! I'll give it a go then :)

Cheers

How tight was the crown race for you? I've got a similar problem - been advised by a couple of bike shops not to wack the crown race on because the diameter difference is too big...

I went to the next bike shop and for some Euros the mechanic installed it - last time it was also one from a Chris King headset. He used a heavy tool, and let it fall onto the crown race.

I tried with a PVC pipe and hammer, but failed.

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The crown race fit is absurdly tight! I gave up with my homemade tools, which have worked in the past with any other headset i have installed.. I've already had one mechanic look at it, and he wouldn't dare to install it either. He advised me to get a headset with a split ring ;) Both fork and Crown race are made for 40mm, but its true that the crown race seems a bit smaller in diameter. I'm pretty confident that it will fit, with the right tools. Been chatting with a bike shop in copenhagen who seems up for the challenge

Gonna swing by tomorrow, and i will throw an update in here to let you know how it turns out :)

You can split the ring yourself - trouble is it buggers up the sealing.

You need the proper - heavy - pipe tool to seat it as is.

It’s metal, heating it will make your life easier.

Already tried to bake the crown race. No luck

Next up is the right tools. Maybe baking AND the right tools.

Reaming might also be an option, but kinda reluctant to go down that path.

Tried putting the forks in your freezer?

You can split the ring yourself - trouble is it buggers up the sealing.

Now that someone else has made this suggestion and I can’t get the blame for it, do this.

Stick the slot at the front and anything so that gets flung off your wheel will hit a solid bit. I do this even with split races with supplementary rubber seals as I think it’s just good practice.

No forks in the freezer yet. Dropped it off at my other local bike shop, they seemed pretty confident that they could pull it off. Lets see!

Yipee it worked <3

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