Did my LBS hose my crown race??

TomYoung said:

"Back in the day" of 1-inch steering tubes and loose-ball headsets
I always installed my own crown races. But I gave up and took the
crown race to my 1-1/8" threadless headset to the LBS for
installation on the fork. I did so for a couple of reasons: 1)
couldn't find any pipe, tube, etc. at the local hardware store that
matched the diameter of the top edge of the crown race and, 2) this
crown race came up to a knife's edge at its top instead of the nice
ledge I used to see on my 1-inch races. I just couldn't see how
any tool was going to press nicely against that knife's edge without
messing it up.

At the LBS I've never seen a "mechanic" hit a bicycle part as
hard as this guy slammed into the crown race, trying to get it to seat.
He did this for 4 or 5 minutes until he was satisfied. Said the race
was "really tight."

After getting the fork home and looking it over more closely I see that
the race is pretty badly scarred for most of its circumference about
1/3 of the way down from its top edge. This would be right in the area
the ball bearings would rest if this were a loose-ball headset. When I
took the fork back to the shop and asked the manager about the damage
to the race he said he wouldn't know if it was a problem until I put
everything together.

Since it's going to be a while until things get assembled I ask the
question: if a crown race is considerably scarred (enough of a scar to
catch a fingernail) for a good part of its circumference about 1/3 of
the way down its "sloped" area, should this present a problem to a
modern cartridge bearing headset?

TIA.

Tom Young

Yes, this could easily give problems, and the wrench almost certainly
messed up. What headset is this? Aluminum crown race?

This is for your LHT fork, correct? Surly forks usually have quite a
bit of excess powder coat all over the crown race seating area that
needs to be taken off, usually with sandpaper, a knife, or something.
Out of 5 LHT's I've dealt with, it's been there on all of them I think.
That could have caused the tightness. This is something that the wrench
should have noticed before installing the race. I could easily imagine
the coat bunching up and not allowing the crown race to seat fully if
it wasn't taken off first, also. Even if the damage to the race wasn't
going to cause any problems, the alignment of the race is very suspect
if this is the case.

Nate Knutson said:

TomYoung said:

"Back in the day" of 1-inch steering tubes and loose-ball headsets
I always installed my own crown races. But I gave up and took the
crown race to my 1-1/8" threadless headset to the LBS for
installation on the fork. I did so for a couple of reasons: 1)
couldn't find any pipe, tube, etc. at the local hardware store that
matched the diameter of the top edge of the crown race and, 2) this
crown race came up to a knife's edge at its top instead of the nice
ledge I used to see on my 1-inch races. I just couldn't see how
any tool was going to press nicely against that knife's edge without
messing it up.

At the LBS I've never seen a "mechanic" hit a bicycle part as
hard as this guy slammed into the crown race, trying to get it to seat.
He did this for 4 or 5 minutes until he was satisfied. Said the race
was "really tight."

After getting the fork home and looking it over more closely I see that
the race is pretty badly scarred for most of its circumference about
1/3 of the way down from its top edge. This would be right in the area
the ball bearings would rest if this were a loose-ball headset. When I
took the fork back to the shop and asked the manager about the damage
to the race he said he wouldn't know if it was a problem until I put
everything together.

Since it's going to be a while until things get assembled I ask the
question: if a crown race is considerably scarred (enough of a scar to
catch a fingernail) for a good part of its circumference about 1/3 of
the way down its "sloped" area, should this present a problem to a
modern cartridge bearing headset?

TIA.

Tom Young

Yes, this could easily give problems, and the wrench almost certainly
messed up. What headset is this? Aluminum crown race?

This is for your LHT fork, correct? Surly forks usually have quite a
bit of excess powder coat all over the crown race seating area that
needs to be taken off, usually with sandpaper, a knife, or something.

I had the same thing with my Soma fork. I scraped a lot of paint off
before I could get the crown race started.

Grerg

--
"All my time I spent in heaven
Revelries of dance and wine
Waking to the sound of laughter
Up I'd rise and kiss the sky" - The Mekons

http://www.chrisking.com/pdfs/Int%20Headsets%20Explained.pdf

--
DTW .../\.../\.../\...

Before installing a crown race, the crown race seat must be cleaned to
bare metal, milled to the appropriate size and greased. When the fork
is properly prepped, the crown race seats with a few light taps and does
not need to be slammed down. A competent mechanic uses crown race
cutter of the appropriate size to ensure this is the case, removing
paint overspray and any excess metal. This step seems to have been
skipped, from the OP's description.

It doesn't sound to me that the OP's mechanic was competent, from the
description given. Nor does it sound as though the shop manager is
competent. If it was my fork, I would demand that they replace the
crown race at their cost. If they don't I would make it clear that they
will never, ever have my business again and that I would warn every
cyclist I meet away from their incompetent shop.

Tim McNamara said:

Before installing a crown race, the crown race seat must be cleaned to
bare metal, milled to the appropriate size and greased. When the fork
is properly prepped, the crown race seats with a few light taps and does
not need to be slammed down. A competent mechanic uses crown race
cutter of the appropriate size to ensure this is the case, removing
paint overspray and any excess metal. This step seems to have been
skipped, from the OP's description.

It doesn't sound to me that the OP's mechanic was competent, from the
description given. Nor does it sound as though the shop manager is
competent. If it was my fork, I would demand that they replace the
crown race at their cost. If they don't I would make it clear that they
will never, ever have my business again and that I would warn every
cyclist I meet away from their incompetent shop.

Seriously, even if they do "make this right," would you seriously
consider giving these butchers any new business? It's clear to me this
shop has no concept of what a crown race cutter/mill is.

I'd just hightail out of there and count myself lucky that they didn't
do any additional really serious damage.

In article <[email hidden]>,

damyth said:

Tim McNamara said:

Before installing a crown race, the crown race seat must be cleaned
to bare metal, milled to the appropriate size and greased. When
the fork is properly prepped, the crown race seats with a few light
taps and does not need to be slammed down. A competent mechanic
uses crown race cutter of the appropriate size to ensure this is
the case, removing paint overspray and any excess metal. This step
seems to have been skipped, from the OP's description.

It doesn't sound to me that the OP's mechanic was competent, from
the description given. Nor does it sound as though the shop
manager is competent. If it was my fork, I would demand that they
replace the crown race at their cost. If they don't I would make
it clear that they will never, ever have my business again and that
I would warn every cyclist I meet away from their incompetent shop.

Seriously, even if they do "make this right," would you seriously
consider giving these butchers any new business? It's clear to me
this shop has no concept of what a crown race cutter/mill is.

I'd just hightail out of there and count myself lucky that they
didn't do any additional really serious damage.

LOL! OK, you do make excellent points. I always feel fortunate that
(1) I have the skills to do these things and (2) I know people who own
the occasionally-needed tools that I don't. I don't have to depend on
hamfists like the OP's LBS to get stuff done. Whew!

TomYoung said:

"Back in the day" of 1-inch steering tubes and loose-ball headsets
I always installed my own crown races. But I gave up and took the
crown race to my 1-1/8" threadless headset to the LBS for
installation on the fork. I did so for a couple of reasons: 1)
couldn't find any pipe, tube, etc. at the local hardware store that
matched the diameter of the top edge of the crown race and, 2) this
crown race came up to a knife's edge at its top instead of the nice
ledge I used to see on my 1-inch races. I just couldn't see how
any tool was going to press nicely against that knife's edge without
messing it up.

At the LBS I've never seen a "mechanic" hit a bicycle part as
hard as this guy slammed into the crown race, trying to get it to seat.
He did this for 4 or 5 minutes until he was satisfied. Said the race
was "really tight."

After getting the fork home and looking it over more closely I see that
the race is pretty badly scarred for most of its circumference about
1/3 of the way down from its top edge. This would be right in the area
the ball bearings would rest if this were a loose-ball headset. When I
took the fork back to the shop and asked the manager about the damage
to the race he said he wouldn't know if it was a problem until I put
everything together.

Since it's going to be a while until things get assembled I ask the
question: if a crown race is considerably scarred (enough of a scar to
catch a fingernail) for a good part of its circumference about 1/3 of
the way down its "sloped" area, should this present a problem to a
modern cartridge bearing headset?

TIA.

Tom Young

ONLY tool that can install fork crown races w/o gooning them up is the
park tool. I'll bet this guy didn't use this or even an old FCR, turned
upside down..poor form, they owe you a FCR.

TomYoung said:

"Back in the day" of 1-inch steering tubes and loose-ball headsets
I always installed my own crown races. ...

He hosed it.

I had a shop do that to my wife's bike installing a Chris King. Then
they had the balls to tell me that the race was warped when it arrived.
The tyro who tried the install also deformed the dropouts while trying
to pound the race on, which I didn't discover until I reassembled the
bike (after obtaining a replacement race and having the install
performed by a shop with a mechanic with the tools to mill the crown so
the race would fit).

Check everything out on the fork, get satisfaction from the shop that
hosed the headset, and take it to someone who knows what they're doing.

Cheers,