Don’t you just love it when a tool does its task well? Well I do! The Park CRP-2 is one of those tools that just does its job.
The CRP-2 is a shop-quality precision tool designed to rapidly and carefully remove the headset crown race from the crown race seat of the fork without any damage to the lower crown. The CRP-2 tool uses three adjustable, retractable arms, “allowing precise, independent positioning of the blades around the crown race,” according to Park Tool. If the need arises, you can position the blades around parts of the fork that would otherwise prevent some tools from working safely.
The CRP-2 is designed to accommodate 1”, 1 1/8”, 1 1/4”, and 1 1/2″ forks, and a lower crown race with a maximum diameter of 64mm. It will fit over steerer tubes with a minimum length of 5.5 inches, all the way up to a staggering 17 inches long!
I swap forks out more often than some single guys change their underwear, so this tool is perfect for me. For shops, this makes life a whole lot easier as well. The hardest part about using the CRP-2 is getting it out of the box. Honestly, this tool is super easy to use. I simply set the blades up 120 degrees apart and tighten them down.
Having used the CRP-2 on both dual crown and single crown forks, I haven’t had the need to change anything yet. A simple hex key will unlock the blades, but as I said, I haven’t needed to do that.
To use the CRP-2 just slip it over the fork that needs the crown race removed, and evenly tighten the blades in with a 6mm hex key. In more than one case, that was enough to pull the crown off. In a few other cases, I needed to use the handle to apply just a bit of pressure on the fork’s steerer tube to get the race to pop off. Regardless, the CRP-2 works flawlessly.
All in all, the CRP-2 is the perfect tool for taking crown races off a fork. The alternative will more than likely get you into hot water one day or another. Not once using the CRP-2 did I have any issues of damaging the lower fork crown with scuffing or scratching.
Make no mistake: this is a shop-level tool, and it carries a shop-level tool price tag. But for those who are enthusiasts and do a lot work on their own rides, this can be a must-have tool. The MSRP is $170, but in my opinion, it’s worth every penny.
