[D_D]

I have 2 forks a rigid fork and a sus fork that I swap around occasionally. Both forks have their own crown race which is never removed.

Today I decided to swap to the sus fork. When I went to clean the old dusty grease off the crown race of the sus fork before I fitted it I noticed the race spun around when I tried to clean it with a rag.

I can pull it off and push it back on very easerly by hand. At first I thought I had done something very bad to the fork but when I tried the race on an old fork it is just as loose.

I have examined the race as best I can by eye and can't see any cracks. The race is from a fsa pig so will be cheap to replace but I would really like to know what causes a race to become loose in the first place so it doesn't happen again.

The headset is not loose and I check it fairly often, if anything the headset could have been a little tight.
The fork has an alu steerer if this makes any difference.

 

[Repack]

You could have messed up the steerer tube at the base where it flairs out. You might be able to get away with making a shim out of a beer can (or soda if your <21).

 

[D_D]

By spinning the race I found a spot where it needed a whack to get it to seat all the way on the fork so I fitted it like that.

After I had put the fork back on the bike I marked a line on the fork crown and the crown race. After riding for a while I noticed the mark has moved about 10mm anit-clockwise.

Not being stupid I realise this is the time to stop riding it.

What is the cause.
Bad crown race or the fork steerer not strong enough?

I can just buy another race and fit it, but will it just do the same again?

 

[binary visions]

Interesting.. I'm not questioning your judgement but what makes you think it's not safe to ride on? Hell, they even sell split crown races so they slide on easily.. The whole assembly is pretty well clamped down.

Just curious what makes you say it's dangerous? It's clearly not right, though - and I'm not sure what would cause that. Other than it simply being an ovalization problem just like a headtube (only cheap to replace)?

 

[D_D]

I mean stop riding to prevent further wearing to the steerer tube rather than my own safty. I don't want it to wear to the point that a new race won't fit properly requiring a new steerer or worse an entire steerer/crown/stanction assembly.

I have ridden it again and the race appears to have settled with the marks ~10mm appart so perhaps it will just stay where it is. It has worn throug the black anodising on the steerer so I will get a new race just to be safe.

 

[Joe33]

If your race is made of steel and the steerer aluminum. The softer of the two is going to wear or swedge the other. Chances are a new race wont help. If your real worred about it you could just JB weld it on there.

 

[RITFreeRider]

My FSA headset has a split race that goes on and off really easily. I wouldn't worry about hurting the steer. It is possible that the race has stretched from being taken on and off. Not really a saftey issuse though. The force of tightening the headset cap should take care of any problems.

 

[novice]

the crown race is a press fit arranegment. this means that the race is under constant stress from being on the slightly larger steerer tube. If it has been on there long enough the material might have relaxed to a new large diamter due to the time period of the stress. don't know if it's true, but that could have happened.