• removing the crown race from the old forks and/or fitting it to the new set of forks
• sawing the excess off the steerer tube.

Both of these are jobs that need to be done with extreme care whether you have the right tools or not.

I don't have any special tools for the crown race. Instead I rely on a small gauge flat bladed screwdriver and a lightweight hammer.

To remove the crown race, put the flat edge of the screwdriver in the small channel between the forks and the crown race. This is usually at the front of the forks and is where the professional tool is fitted.

Tap the screwdriver very gently. If you just use a lightweight hammer this will prevent you from doing any damage to the fork or the crown race as you won't get so much wieght on the hammer swing. This does however require you to hit it more. Little and often is the watchword of the day.

Although you won't notice the crown race move at first, move the screwdriver in a circular movement around the race. This will lever it up gently. Once it starts to move, make sure you always tap it at the lowest point. This will keep it level as if it gets crooked on the steerer tube this actually makes it tighter. The steerer tube is imperceptibly wider at the base so you only need to raise the crown race about half an inch before it will suddenly become loose as it gets to the narrower section and you can remove it by hand.

To place the crown race on the new forks, push it onto the steerer having greased it lightly first. I find finish line grease is fine for this job. Keeping the crown race as level as possible, use the flat endge of the hammer to tap the crown race gently down. Make your way around the edge of the crown race to keep it level and to avoid hitting the same part repeatedly and damaging it. It will take a while but it will eventually sink into place.

I use a junior hacksaw to remove the excess from the steerer.

Fit the forks to the frame, including headset, seals, spacers and stem but not the top cap. Use your normal amount of spacers but make sure you put one spacer of at least 5-8mm thickness above the stem.

Push it all together using hand pressure only and then remove the top spacer. Draw a pencil ring around the steerer using the stem as a mark.

Then wrap some sticky tape around the steerer tube using the pencil line as a mark. This will ensure you have a mark that is level all the way round.

Remove the stem, spacers and headset seals etc. and then use the hacksaw to saw where you have marked. Make sure you saw all the way around the steerer to keep the cut straight. Avoid sawing from one side only and going straight through. This is guaranteed to give you a cut that is off centre.

Once you have removed the excess use a rounded file to remove the burrs on the inside of the tube and to file a slightly bevelled edge on the outside.

Refit the fork in the head tube, including headset seals, all spacers (including the 5-8mm spacer used above) and stem and then fit the star fangled nut inside the steerer tube. Use a (sacrificial) bolt fitted to the star fangled nut, and hit that with the hammer to set it into the steerer tube. This has a number of advantages including the fact that it's so much easier to see if it's going in straight.

Better still is to use a Hope Head Doctor as this uses an expanding wedge that stays in the steerer tube and does not scratch into the 'delicate' aluminium of the steerer tube which may give rise to stress-related fractures in time.

Fit the top cap and then tighten. You will find that once it all tightens up the steerer will be 1-2mm below the top spacer (or the stem, depending whether you stack your spacers below or above the stem) - perfect.

Removing the crown race 1

The crown race tightly in place. It's not as much trouble to remove as you think

Removing the crown race 2

Get all the tools you will need ready. Support the forks using an old workbench. Make sure you wrap a cloth around the stanchions to prevent damage to the paintwork and don't tighten too much. You only want to support them not prevent any movement at all.

Removing the crown race 3

Put the edge of the screwdriver in the small channel between the forks and the crown race and tap lightly to loosen

Removing the crown race 4

work your way all round the top of the crown race. It will slowly rise up the steerer until it becomes loose.

you can see the gap now between the crown race and the top of the forks - from here the rest is easy

Fox Vanilla 130R Forx (2005) compared to Marzocchi Bomber Z5's (2001)

How not to do it! With a junior hacksaw, in the car park, 5 minutes before a ride and with 20 other riders waiting for you

READ MORE:

Prince Albert review
Prince Albert spec
Buy some new forks
Buy a Hope Head Doctor

Top