So I was out on the bike an hour or so ago, got to about 4 miles from home & the forks felt very stiff to steer, getting worse so I pulled over to have a look. I could see that the crown race didn’t look right so I decided to take the forks off & see why, the split race had splayed over the headset reducer on the 1-1/8th fork in a 1.5 HT at a jaunty angle. Has anyone else had this problem & do Works Components do a non split crown race or can I use any other brand?

Oh, the miserable roadie bit is to the **** who just had a good gander at me taking my forks off at the side of the road & didn’t even bother to acknowledge me, let alone help, git!

I used an unsplit headset reducer for my Ritchey forks in my Defy frame. Fit was good and have had no issues. Noco was the brand, I think. It was cheap so I just tried it to see. Try this one, it looks the same!

EDIT: And I’d have stopped.

Works do a race for their 1.5 headsets which fit 1-1/8 steerer, save you using a separate reducer.

What make is the reducer? ive had no issues with my Works headset.

Usually if you have a reducer it replaces the crown race? Or at least every one I’ve had, including Works, works like that. (not sure but it sounds like you’re using a Works headset?)

Weyhey! Seems like ages since we’ve had a miserable roadie thread.

Thanks Stato, just ordered one, nice that they dont charge for postage 🙂
The reducer is a Hope one (that you fit your original race on top of) if anyone now cares.

Oh, the roadie, I sincerely hope he gets a mechanical as far away from transport as possible, I didn’t need his help, but FFS if you see a fellow cyclist at the side of the road with the forks off a bike a quick question would be prudent no?

Cheers.

Oh, that’s weird, I had a Hope reducer in the Hemlock for a while and it was definitely just a mahoosive crown race. But I see they do 2 different ones now. Seems like an orrible way to do it tbh!

I’ve got a hope jobbie, 1 1/8″ steerer forks in tapered headtube. It’s a 2 part system, reducer goes direct on forks, has a square profile, then normal tapered crown race for 1.5″ bearing fits over that. Goes together well, works fine.

Bit like the time I turned up at local road gang social Sunday morning ride. How they laughed at my hybrid when they had sleek Italian bikes.

How they laughed at the rack, and panniers. “What’s in the panniers”? – A – “jacket, spare tube, pump, tools – chain tool, spare links..” Oh, they said, we don’t carry that stuff, if someone breaks a chain, Gordon fixes it for us..

“Which one’s Gordon?” I asked..
“Oh, he’s not here today…”

My turn to laugh 🙂