Since it is winter and the roads have more stones on them than my mt. bike trails I am working on some projects on the 696. One of which is sending some parts to my powdercoater. On this list is the top fork crown and the bar mounts.
My question is this... What do I need to remove the top crown? Is is just as simple as loosening a few bolts or does it require something fancy? Will I need to do something to the front of the bike for support while the top crown is off?
I mess with my DH mt bike forks all the time and removing the crowns is a cake walk, so I'm hoping this is doable with my tools at home and no special stands for support.
As far as I can tell from the parts catalogue, there's no special tools necessary.
Remove controls and handlebar, loosen the pinch bolts for the fork legs and stem bearing 'nut', and slide the crown off.
You may need to push out the Item#10, it *looks* like it's a rubber bushing, if so, you don't want to leave it in as the oven curing of the powdercoat will ruin it.
I'd support the front end for all of this, but I'm sure others have done so without doing it.