Herzlos

I picked up a neglected MTB with a pretty rough fork, and have ordered and identical replacement from eBay which should just be a case of unbolting/rebolting all of the fittings, with no cutting.
I've never dealt with crown race fitting/removal yet, so was considering if it's worth buying the tools and doing it myself, or getting a shop to do it.

My shop if choice have quoted £20 for the job, but involves 2x 1 hour round trips. I can get a Birzman crown race fitting tool and an ice toolz crown race remove from Tredz (uk) for about £48. So in terms of time/money it's roughly a wash.

How hard is it to do? Am I likely to screw it up? Am I missing any tools?


Edit: Here's the new fork, does that look like it already has the crown race fitted? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174866963191

2old

You probably don't need the tools if you're careful. The race from the old fork can be removed by tapping its edges gently using a hammer and screwdriver (this has always worked for me except with a carbon fork which I bring to my LBS), and installed on the new fork with a tube slightly larger than the steerer, tapping the edges with a screwdriver/hammer combination or an adjustable wrench opened just slightly larger than the steerer width. I'm sure others will either disagree with this or provide better/easier methods, but I've been doing this with my bikes as well as my wife's and kid's for 40 years.

Litespud

if it doesn’t save you money or time, get a shop to do it and ensure that it’s done right. If you want to learn and/or accumulate tools for your future bike maintenance adventures, do it yourself.

3alarmer 

.
...some crown races are more difficult than others to remove. Some are more difficult to seat. There's also the issue of what holds your fork while you are pounding on the new race. You shouldn't be pounding on the thing with the fork ends sitting on something as your support, but a sawhorse under the crown works well, as does a purpose built tool that clamps the fork ends.

Every now and then you run into a crown race that is a bear to remove. It probably won't be this one, but it's hard to predict.


But wait, there's more !!

3alarmer 

...crown races come in all different shapes and sizes. It might work, but best practice is to use the one that came with the headset you are using. That said, over at the bike co-op, using the race already on a scrounged fork is seen pretty regularly, and it works maybe 70% of the time,

Herzlos

It looks to be off the same bike (Giant Revel 0), since the decals match and the seller has some other matching items. I'll make sure it matches the fork that comes off first, though.