6.4 cockpit

Crown Race Installation

The crown race is a thin metal ring pressed onto the fork's crown that the lower bearing sits on.

Difficulty ★★★ advanced
Time ~10 min
Applies to All bikes (during fork or headset replacement)

The crown race is a thin metal ring pressed onto the fork's crown that the lower bearing sits on.

Tools

  • Crown race setter (a hollow tube that fits over the steerer)
  • soft mallet

Procedure

  1. Place the new crown race

    on the fork's crown.

  2. Slide the crown race setter

    over the steerer down onto the race.

  3. Strike the top of the setter

    with a soft mallet to drive the race down onto the crown until it bottoms out.

  4. Listen for the change in tone

    — the race is fully seated when the strike sound becomes higher-pitched and solid (no more give).

Some forks come with split-ring crown races that just snap on by hand — much easier.