So I’m all set to fit my new headset which arrived from Merlin mid week

From photos online I seem to have all the correct bit

But the lower crown race just seems odd. A rather feeble bit of alloy that doesn’t have a flat base. The crown race isn’t split?

So that just the way it is?

I can post pictures if that will help

The fork crown should be clean and free from burrs (possibly caused during removal of a previous race) and the new crown race should be fitted with a crown race seating tool to ensure it is not damaged as it will be a tight fit.

Thanks. All done and mostly with the correct tools. Bike handling still feels weird, but that’s for another thread after further exploration

You sure that ring isn’t the one that goes in the bearing at the top of the headset?

There are 2 rings. A deeper split ring that I put in at the top and an unsplit ring that I mounted on the forks

I couldn’t get it to fit together any other way and a bit of googling showed the feeble ring as the crown race

But of course that doesn’t mean I’m right

I love those headsets as you can get them dirt cheap on eBay and are really nice quality.

If you want to make fitting easier just use a hacksaw on the crown race to make it into a split one. Done it loads of times with no problems – as its a sealed bearing that sits on the top and there is another alloy bit as well it doesn’t make any difference if it’s split.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=380745314975

Stupid cheap on eBay!

The crown race went on fine. Cups don’t look fully seated. The Irony is it was done with a huge Park press rather than my usual hammer and wood

This is cheaper…

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/107637/products/fsa-orbit-mx-sealed-headset-1-1-8-inch-bike-cycle.aspx