Crown race remover

There are three headset bearing surfaces that sit on the bike. Two are on the frame itself, and these are the top and bottom cups. They're pressed into the top and bottom of the frame's head tube, and that process is explained in our description of the headset press.

The other bearing surface is the crown race, which sits on the fork crown. A bearing will sit i between the crown race and the bottom cup on the frame. Another bearing will sit inbetween the top race, that sits on top of the head tube, and the top cup. Your fork will rotate around these two bearings. That's how your fork works.

When you're installing a new headset into a "not-new" frame, you've got to take the old headset out. This means de-installing the top and bottom cups, and also the crown race.

There are plenty of people who will think I'm a pussy for having the tool I have, and to them I say, you're just jealous. The historical way to remove a crown race is to turn your fork upside down, and lock the steerer inside your bench vice. Then you take a U-shaped hunk of metal made for the job, and you place it with th points of the U facing downward, resting on the edges of the crown race. The other part of this tool is you shop hammer, which you wield with -- hopefully -- great and accurate aim. Down comes the hammer, inbetween the fork blades -- these being the blades on your $375 carbon fork -- and with the precisely correct hit off comes the crown race.

Enter the crown race removal tool by J.A. Stein. The one I have has a pair of adjustable lips, which you slide ove the crown race and tighten down with a 5mm Allen wrench. Those flange-like things at the bottom of the photo, one just over the other, are part of a slide hammer. In other words, you've got to bang this crown race off. This tool has the banger built in. No more hammer wielding.

Look, perhaps I am a wimp. But these new carbon forks have thick crowns and legs, and sometimes there's not a lot of room to fit the hammer. Asking me to hammer without hitting the fork blades is sort of like asking me to shoot an arrow through the apple sitting on top of somebody's head. I don't want the responsibility. What if I sneeze?