Poor steerer cut - fixing

Back by popular demand, the general all-things Road forum!

Moderator: robbosmans

Valbrona
Posts: 1629
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2011 3:25 am
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

by Valbrona

Geezer ... that shop has had its chance.

I wouldn't hesitate to file it. Or get a Fibre-Grit sanding block: http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/Departments ... Tools.aspx

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Zigmeister
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:09 pm

by Zigmeister

Oh yeah, and how does the shop not have a simple tool like this and be able to cut it nearly perfect after 30 seconds?

http://www.parktool.com/product/threadl ... forks-sg-8

arnoudrace
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 1:25 pm

by arnoudrace

Just used this one here to cut the steerer of my Canyon Inflite cx bike: perfect straight cut without heartrate 180 :)Image

Geoff
Posts: 5395
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:25 am
Location: Canada

by Geoff

+1. Before you cut with the file, make sure you wrap the outside of the steerer with tape to minimize fraying. Also, cut with a clean, sharp file.

User avatar
jekyll man
Posts: 1570
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:23 am
Location: Pack filler

by jekyll man

^ great idea for filling your headset full of cack ...... :roll:


Not to mention the loads placed on the fork,headset and frame.

Also increased risk of scuttling your new frame as you bash the nice paint job with your saw.

For how long it takes, take the fork off and put it in a vice :smartass:
Official cafe stop tester

arnoudrace
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 1:25 pm

by arnoudrace

No chance for dust to enter a canyon headset (did not do your homework?) and with a fresh sawblade no need for me to put loads of force on it.

voodoojar
Posts: 618
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:50 pm

by voodoojar

Well you still got a tone of cancerous dust all over your bike. why wouldn't you spend the extra 2 minutes taking it out to save you 30 minutes of cleaning?

bricky21
Posts: 1403
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:28 pm

by bricky21

To me it looks like whoever cut it used a guide to cut half way then rotated it to cut through the other side, but the guide wasn't aligned very well. Then they used a file to smooth out the transition. It looks sloppy but really isn't an issue. I would be annoyed though given the price of bicycles. Compression plugs do come loose sometimes just from the vibration in the steerer tube. I use a bit of loctite on mine(not the permanent stuff).

User avatar
neeb
Posts: 1101
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:19 pm

by neeb

To be honest, I don't think it's anything worth worrying about. When you tighten up the bung it will tend to end up straight in the steerer even if there is a little gap at some points around the top. The part of the bung that grips the inside of the steerer is further down. Also, as you have a spacer above the stem the uneven part of the steerer is above the clamping region in any case. Once the headset is tightened and the stem is torqued up it's a purely aesthetic problem, and it's covered by a spacer in any case.

Of course it's still very shoddy work by the shop and worth complaining about.

<edit> I worry more about impressions from the stem clamp on the steerer myself. For this reason I always try to use longer bungs, especially if I have a spacer above the stem, so that the area of the steerer where the clamp attaches is supported internally by the bung for its entire length. problems arise sometimes when the bung ends half way down the clamp, so that the bottom screw on the stem compresses the steerer more than the top one does at the same torque...

Briscoelab
Posts: 1513
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:01 pm

by Briscoelab

Or just use a coarse file to even it out. Then make it smooth with some sand paper or fine file.

Should take you 5 min to clean up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Zigmeister
Posts: 938
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:09 pm

by Zigmeister

^WTF...why did you cut it while on your bike? Would have taken all of 1 minute more to remove the brake cable, stem, and take the fork out...while at it, you could have cleaned your crown/bearings, regreased them...but hey, that is just me :)

User avatar
legs 11
Posts: 3602
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:22 am
Location: Leg hurty

by legs 11

Anyway, I had no idea we could develop a string of posts all about a slightly crooked and dodgy fork steerer cut?
Let's let this one go good people, It's no big deal.
I won't be part of turning this place into the equivalent of 'Bike Radar' in the UK, (it's awful) so let's let it go?
Pedalling Law Student.

civdic
Posts: 150
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:58 pm

by civdic

I fixed a few friends steerers that were messed up. Get yourself a pipe clamp. Place it just below or at the lowest point of the uneven cut. Get a piece of 180 wet dry sandpaper and wrap it around a flat surface like a wooden block. Then go to town on the steerer until you hit the pipe clamp. Don't get the sandpaper or the steerer wet. If you do the fibres get all fuzzy and it looks like a cats a$$. Finish it off by getting a sheet of fine grit wet dry sandpaper and lightly take off any sharp edges. Make sure you lightly sand the inside edges as well.

User avatar
neeb
Posts: 1101
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:19 pm

by neeb

Easiest way I have found to cut carbon steerers is with a dremel and the 38mm speed clic cutting wheel. I just wrap some tape around to mark the line and am very careful not to cut below the line. If the cut is uneven or 0.5mm too high you can use the disk to polish off the edges. It's really precise as long as you are careful and don't let it slip. Then use fine sandpaper to smooth things over.

It creates very fine dust so I always do it outside with a mask on. There's no real evidence that carbon dust is significantly carcinogenic, but it's still possible that they could find out that it is in a few years time, so best not to take chances.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Post Reply