So I was supplied a cartridge bearing headset but it was missing the crown race.
The supplier sent me a crown race but it came in just a polythene bag with no label. Putting the crown race with the lower bearing by hand and there seems to be a fair gap (maybe 1.5mm) between the flat upper surface of the race and the lower face of the bearing.
With different angled bearings available, is there any way to tell if the crown race bearing surface angle matches the inner bearing surface angle? Or are they all 45degrees?
when you sit the crown race in the bearing does it feel quite stable or wobble?
There is typically 2 angles: 36 deg and 45 deg. Sometimes you get 35 deg but I doubt you would have much trouble with 35/36 compatibility.
It wobbles a bit, but as does another complete headset I have (which was new and packaged, so I'm confident that one is right).
I'll double check.
I have no reason to doubt its incorrect but its doesn't seem quite as good a fit as the other one and I'm struggling visually to check an internal surface angle against an external surface.
if you've got a combination square you could always see if you can confirm the angle of the crown race. The bearing should have it written on.
From which axis is the angle measured? Is it the bearing / steerer axis? Since the 36degree surface on one of the headsets looks steeper than the 45degree surface on the other?