LBS couldn't fit crown race..

STATO, just had another look, you’re right. There isnt actually a groove, it appears that the diameter gets wider towards the bottom and thats the transition to the wider area.

Thanks for the offer Thrustyjust, going to leave it as is for now and see how I get on. There is a lot of grease on it which is what makes it look a bit funny.

To my mind some manufactures build in some “tolerance” into their product to make up for the shortcomings of theirs & others products.

Tolerancing is an integral part of engineering and manufacturing. Just remember – nothing is perfect. What is a good enough tolerance? +/- 1 mm? +/- 0.1 mm? +/- 0.01 mm??

That press-fit between the crown race and the steerer is subject to the sizes of each component falling within a specified range. If you need to make the size more accurate – that will cost more for better machines and to check/QA the results will cost more in tools and man-power.

And the consumer wants things cheap…

Yes, he had to file the steerer slightly to get it straight.

Not good. What did he mean by “straight”? If the diameter of the steerer was oversized (unlikely on a used fork, but you never know) then the only correct fix is a crown race cutter.

In the last pic it does look like it’s seated home, though.

Just get the crown race removed in one piece. Cut through it with a hacksaw push it back on the steererr with your fingers, job done. No more grief nor more hassle, get on with ridding your bike.

Yeah, because if there’s one thing that headset needs, it’s even more metal removed where it shouldn’t be 😀

Not uncommon, took my nice fancy carbon forks to a local shop as I didn’t have a 1.5 race tool and 1 hour and three people later they gave up. Did it myself in 10 secons with some plastic drain pipe, pfft.

the actual fit of the crown race doesn’t look too bad – as above, the chamfer at the bottom accounts for it no looking flush at the outside.

They do seem to have had a right go at the steerer though – was it previously damaged?

😯

I don’t think I’d go back to that shop.

As bencooper rightly points out, there is a correct tool or three for this job. A file is not one of them.

pah, looks fine to me. just ride it, having first checked your dental cover…

I thought you said it wasn’t seated? That looks seated to me. Why the chuff they’ve taken to it with a file is anyone guess. And I’m hoping its grease all over the race because otherwise its knackered. But as for being seated (?) correctly. Looks fine to me.

As bencooper rightly points out, there is a correct tool or three for this job. A file is not one of them.

+1

Are those gouges out of the angled surface of the race or just dirty grease? looks seated properly. Will likely be absolutely fine. The made a right pigs ear of the job.

I like split races and now tend to make the finest cut I can through mine using a Dremel. FSA do it on some of their headsets and not others strangely.

As it seems to have been established that the workshop is full of monkeys, it’s surely time to name and shame?

Nah – the race is on properly, they just made a right meal of it.

Yes, there are gouges on the angled surface, I cleaned away the grease and had a proper look. Not impressed at all. Will this affect performance or damage headset in any way?

Looks like he used the old adjustable spanner trick as there are gouges on the other side perfectly lined up.

Built this bike for my GF using my old Fury as a donor bike (whilst treating myself to a Trek Stache 8 8) ) so its unlikely to be ridden particularly hard.

Time to find a new LBS…

it should be ok as the race doesn’t actually turn in relation to the bit of bearing it rests on.

I’d be embarassed if I bodged something like that at home. A shop should be ashamed.

name and shame the bike shop.
move on.

Pound Lane Cycles – Epsom

Avoid them..

I do hope they find this thread and explain.

montarius – Member

Time to find a new LBS…

Or time to do stuff like that yourself – it would have taken less time than it has to take and post the photographs.

I wonder how long it will be till someone anonymously emails them a link?

The main part of the work was fitting the headset which I didnt want to bodge. But yes, I will be doing things like this myself in the future.

Looks like they’ve hammered it on with a screwdriver!

Re. filing forks…..sure you shouldn’t do it but once I had to file down a 27.0 fork down to 26.4 in an emergency and it worked totally fine. Took forking hours though and I’m never doing it again!

Pound Lane? More like Poundland – and I’d even suggest a pound’s overpriced for that standard of workmanship.

Like others I like to do what I can myself as then at least my bodge jobs are my own 😀 , but that’s a hell of a cocked up bodge job there! 😮

After a couple of far from satisfactory repairs by halfords I now do all my own maintenance.

I also recently built a bike from scratch as to get a complete understanding of how everything works.
That way there is nothing I cannot repair and I tend to nip any potential problems in the bud rather than let them escalate to the point where I would have to take it in for repair.

after initially worry about every task ahead i found everything quite straight forward once you actually get the tools out and make a start, using only supplied component instructions and park tools online information was excellent for the times I could not make sense of said supplied instructions.

And on the couple of a occasions where I needed help or reassurance with anything this forum came up trumps.

the best advice regarding any maintenance is have patience and the right tool for the right job.
And if you are unsure of what you are doing a little reading will put you right as once you understand how something works and not that it just does if you do this makes emergency repairs when you are out and about easier,which could save you a long walk home.

Montarius, how long is the steering tube anyway?

Also don’t the bearing run against the crown race? So won’t those gouges wreck the bearings?

Also don’t the bearing run against the crown race? So won’t those gouges wreck the bearings?

No – the bearings have their own races, which just sit on the crown race.

just seen those pics absolute monkeys

Well GF took this out for a good ride round Swinley at the weekend and there was some play / adjustment required after the ride but everything seems to be ok.

Just hoping that play doesn’t comeback after every ride..