Ellen Forney knows what’s what. She knew what was up years and years ago when she designed the remover-installer and all the surrounding artwork you saw in the stranger and on the posters and flyers on telephone poles all over Capitol Hill in the 90s.
I often look back on it and smile. If only I had that 20th anniversary edition, all my problems would be solved.
Over the past couple months I’ve been collecting scraps and watching a few YouTubes to improvise the fork swap on my new-used Poprad. Remover-Installers. The final piece of my multistep puzzle was the crown race installer: a scrap of 1.25” copper pipe that will slide over the steer tube and rest on a headset spacer to drive the crown race home on my new Surly fork. I know a guy that knows a little something about plumbing.
I could go to a bike shop and pay a real mechanic to do this. I could go to BikeWorks and ask them to use the real tools. I could buy the real Park Tool crown race remover for $365 and the real Park Tool crown race installer for $110 and the real Park Tool star nut installer for $30. But why would I do any of that stuff when I can stand around in my garage and ponder life's problems with a can of Rainier.
Today could be the day I actually finally get around to doing this.
If-then, I’ll tell you about my crown race remover and my star nut installer too.
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