Cutting down a steerer tube...

yo peeps
just got a chris king steelset installed on my steamroller, by the local bikeshop they put the fork in and its hard to get it out, i wanted to cut the steerer myself, shall i bang the fork out and cut it or leave it in and cut. anyone had the same problem? might be a pain in the arse to put the fork bang in.
cheers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpmKWzuwJgw

Definitely take the fork out before cutting. You may have to give the steerer a wallop to get the fork to come loose - Don't go over board though. The fork will go back in with no problems at all.

Junior saw.
Elbow grease.

I've done pretty good job myself.

The only problem is - the steerer is 1mm too long, as I used a Sharpie to mark the cut.

It might be easier to leave the fork in. It depends what equipment you have. I.e. what you have to hold the steerer in place while you cut it.

I cut a carbon threadless steerer in the vice, but then to save faffing about I left a threaded fork in to cut it.

I cut an aluminum one on my lap with junior saw and a dremel. With a wheel attached.

I prefer my poles to be firmly clamped

Cheeky!

That video up there ^^ doesn't explain that a pipe cutter works by "pushing metal out of the way" to create the cut. This does cause a flare which can give a problem when refitting the steerer through the bearings and replacing the spacers/stem. Its easily fixed with some decent coarse emery cloth.

I prefer to cut with a saw, in a jig to keep it square. I don't like pipe cutters because of the flare issue. I think in reality you can get away with the cut not being 100% square as your spacers/stem will need to be slightly proud of the tube anyway.

junior hack saw. but it always ends up wonky...

Elbow grease. You have to move really fast and don't stop.
Or if you do stop, move to a different place and make the cuts meet.

File and sand it down after cutting.

measure twice, cut once

measure twice, cut once

thanks dad ;-)

Pipe cutter gives me the straightest cut- pick one up in Poundland and just check the screws holding the centre of the cutting wheel is tight to stop it wandering and file or emery the sharp edge off when you finish

Top tip, esp with King headsets - take everything off the top (spacers and stem), support the frame and give the top of the fork a quick rap with a mallet (or hammer and wood block),it should drop down by a centimetre or two, push the fork back up and you'll see a conical washer - slide that up and off the fork and they will come out much easier :)

As was mentioned above, if you use a tube cutter, make sure that you remove the burr (I use a small file) although it's not critical that the cut is absolutely square.

When you've cut to your hearts content, don't forget the star fangled nut will need replacing or reseating as the steerer is now shorter :)

Oh, and one last thing, if you're using a pipe cutter, make sure you watch the first couple of twists - if you're going the "wrong" way, you won't cut the steerer, just cut a thread into it :)

measure and then wrap some masking tape around the mark (so it's square, obviously) and use the edge of the tape as a cutting guide.

+1 make sure its square. measure not twice but eleventity times, and then just as you put blade to metal, drop everything, dry reassemble to make sure your using the right line and do a sanity check.

I once cut down a brand new MTB fork that I'd saved for ages to get, cut it down to fit with no spacers, then realized I needed one 10mm spacer. Dammit.

Could have been worse - imagine cutting and finding out the stem was still 10mm inside the headtube :)

Plumbers tip.
wrap a strip of paper around the tube two turns ensuring the edges overlap each other and mark the tube along the edge with a fine marker pen. the line thus marked will be square to the end.

practice marking and cutting on a waste area of the tube, especially if using a junior hacksaw as these little bastards will cut off.

Hi,

Does anyone know of a shop in North of the river that will thread the steerer tubes on my fork. Its just slightly too long, probably would only need about half an inch extra thread. Also is it possible to fit headset spacers in a threaded headset? If so whereabouts do they sit? Am I right in thinking they sit either side of the locknut?

Thanks for any help anyone can give.
Nat

The spacers sit inbetween the locknut and the adjustment nut.

I would get that BikeFix is your best candate for having the right tap.

BikeFix quoted me £40, for anyone looking to get this done Cavendish/Fitzrovia cycles is the best bet, £10 per inch.

Facepalm.