Question about headset fitting

[dblues]

Hello,

New member here.

I'm building a bike with a classic Carlton (27in wheels) steel frame.
The fork is a standard threaded. I'm trying to fit a headset but the crown race is a bit loose. I measured the crown to be 26.3mm, I don't think this was ever a standard.

Is there a way to fit the crown race in thses situations? Maybe using an anaerobic compound?

 

[Midlife]

Check with another ISO crown race if possible to check the one you have is not rogue. BITD we used to punch a series of "holes" with a centre punch around the bearing area of the fork crown to rise rings of metal which helped retain the crown race.

 

[dblues]

Re:

I've tried with 2 races. It's definitely the crown which is too small, maybe worn?
The punch method seems a bit brute force but could work I guess.

 

[jim haseltine]

Re:

Punching the crown seat was what we used to do as well. Works as long as the race isn't too loose a fit.

 

[dblues]

I have some retaining compound (Loctite 641). It seems to hold the crown race tight in place. I'm going to test for a week or two to see if it holds.

 

[mattr]

Do you have a JIS 1" headset on there?

Just worth checking......

 

[Captain Stupido]

Re:

I've found that a loose-ish crown race can be OK in practice - on a previous build I just went with it (slid it in place and installed the headset) and I found that after quite a few miles of riding (i.e. having worn out the chain) the headset remained tight and correctly adjusted without undue wear.

Too tight is more of a pain. I've damaged quite a few crown races attempting to fit to a slightly too big crown.

I reckon it'll be fine with the loctite - I wouldn't worry about it unless the headset works loose or similar.

 

[M_Chavez]

Re:

26.3 is pretty close to 26.4, which is the ISO standard... It's easy enough to be 0.1mm out when you're eyeballing it...

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-headsets.html