At this point I'm a spacer set, a saw guide and container of waterproof grease away from having all the pieces necessary to install the headset, stem and handlebars. All have been shipped.
In the meantime the only component ready to install got installed, the crown race onto the fork. I had watched videos and made a DIY tool like this guy, but still lacked confidence in knowing which side of the crown race faced up. In one video, the person held a correctly oriented race up to the camera but the poor explanation and blurry picture helped very little.
Unfortunately, I was done before thinking to take pictures, but here's what I did:
1) The fork crown had some paint on it from when the forks got painted. Not wanting the paint to keep the race from getting a good seat, I took a small flat file and gently buffed the paint away. A knife or piece of sandpaper might have worked as well or better.
2) I had to figure out definitively which side of the crown race pointed up, which turned out to be quite simple. Placing the race against the bottom of the bottom headset cup made the answer obvious. I can't speak for all headsets, but with the Cane Creek 110, one side of the race fits flat against the cup bearing and can be spun smoothly. The other side did not. Obviously we want the smooth option.
3) I used a 2 pound hammer to hit the PVC pipe tool, considerably heavier than in any of the videos found online. Without hitting very hard, that heavier hammer provided good solid drive downward onto the race. It seated easily with just a few blows.
Well, that's all the bike building for today ... don't want to wear myself out.
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