Has anyone else found these incredibly tight to fit ?

Tried it on 2 different steerers (both steel) and it is tight to the point of needing ‘not very gentle persuasion’ with a rubber mallet to get down the tube. There does not appear to be an expanding wedge, so is this normal, or am I being a numpty ?

Anyone ? Before I hammer the bl@@dy thing on 😯

which bit is tight?

Find someone with a large vice.

Both races are tight but it’s the top assembly that is causing the problem. I had to use fairly brutal force to get it off the P2’s it was on before and I’m now trying to fit it to a pair of Nixons. It’s the first headset I’ve come across without an expanding wedge and I can’t see anything that would be causing the problem.

I’ve even swapped the cartridges to see if that would make a difference eg. ovalised cartridge but the problem is still there.

Does it have a rubber o-ring in there? I’m sure mine does, but that’s about 8 years old. It was a very tight fit, I just smeared a little grease inside.

Can’t check at the moment but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have one.
It is the same as THIS ONE so presumably the fit has to be tight to avoid movement……..but I can’t see it has to be ‘hammer on tight’ !