Gap at bottom of headset?

Still, I just don't get the point in risking it. Wood ftw

Still, I just don't get the point in risking it. Wood ftw

Wood will just be a load of splinters after I have been laying into it for 5 minutes!

Delicacy and bikes don't go together with me, and yes I stay away from carbon products :-)

haha fair enough. I've never had wood splinter on me doing this really. Or if you are worried about splintering use MDF.

haha fair enough. I've never had wood splinter on me doing this really. Or if you are worried about splintering use MDF.

MDF, you're kidding. You haven't seen the state of my metal chisels.

I do actually use wood for knocking headset cups in though. Nowadays I try and go for integrated headsets so people stop reporting me for bike abuse.

Mdf works for me. I use a bits that are about A5 in size and about an inch thick, just have to keep swapping sides round as they become squashed.

Did you screw your metal chisels up by installing/removing the crown race?

Did you screw your metal chisels up by installing/removing the crown race?

No, was only joking. Not that much of a butcher.

hahaha I had crazy images in my head of some forks in a huge vice and bent metal chisels surrounding it and the diamond hard crown race glinting in the light, unmarked and unmovable

Right well i had a go at it lastnight and managed to get it about 1-2mm off the crown before my housemate moaned at me for banging on his ceiling lmao. Should be able to get it the final way down tonight, been using a screwie covered with leccy tape and its not damaged it at all. In fact i'm kinda lucky as the crown race had a small shoulder below the bearing surface which a small plastic ring fits on so i've been hitting that instead of the "important" bit. The plastic ring looks more like an aesthetic thing than a seal. I'll probably run one of those lizard skin covers thru winter anyway ;-)

I always hit the part of the crown race where it contacts the steerer as it can't bend there. Saying that it is prone to slipping and then marking the bearing surface so may not be such a good idea.
This thread is seriously making me consider going to a bike shop for the first time ever for my next headset install :-)

Haha, yeah i never realised there was all this to it ffs! I did ask at BLB about a headset install and it was £25 labour charge which i thought was a bit steep tbh as its hardly a difficult job with the correct tools...

fucking hell that is fucking steep! i was quoted £30 for headset install, and ream and face headtube together. not in that order.

If you have a cylinder vacuum cleaner use one of the extension pipes.

They usually have plastic fittings on one end so as not to damage the race.

A while ago someone on here mentioned using an old 1 1/8 stem...

...since then I have been doing it that way.

I've ordered a Cyclus Crown Race Fitting Tool as getting new fork soon, gonna change wife's fork over soon as well so thought would get a proper tools for it, hope to make own headset press as described here: http://www.londonfgss.com/thread13776.html#post414858.

http://www.cyclus-tools.eu

And for getting old race off, IceToolz Crown Race Remover:

http://www.lifu.biz/icetoolz/