Cutting down a steerer tube...

wow, well unless perhaps the guy I was talking to on the phone misunderstood me! Guess will find out when I bring em in. Called BLB first and they said that cavendish was the first port of call for stuff like this.

had a quick scroll through but didn't find what I was looking for, basically, is it ok to trim a crabon steerer with a junior hacksaw? Is there anything I should be wary of?

Don't force the cut, tape round where you intend to cut with just about any type of sticky tape.

ok so take it steady, and a thick layer of tape or just a little? cheers.

The tape is there to prevent the blade slipping and splinters starting, a couple of turns is all thats needed.
You can also mark the tape up with a pen as a cutting guide

If one swaps from a fork with a rake of 45 to one with a rake of 43 would that difference be noticable?

Possibly but whether the change is negative or positive will be for you to decide. It will probably feel similar to changing tire sizes. Noticable but you get used to it pretty quickly.

It would make the handling slightly slower, from what I have read.

Dropping to a 22mm tyre at the same time however- might be hard to tell.

Guess I'll have to make the change and see for myself.

I would've thought the shorter wheel base would be twitchier.... marginal though.

Head tube angle is 73.5, current fork rake is 45mm, trail is 53mm.

Possible new forks have a rake of 43mm, which would reduce trail by a small amount.

I don't know enough about this side of things to hold an opinion on it to be honest.

Limited number of forks with a tapered steerer to choose from really however.

for the boardman?

Nope, RPM popped over the other day and revealed a rather disconcerting amount of flex in my SystemSix steerer.

I was considering changing the fork for a pair of Hi-Mod SuperSix forks, or (very vaguely) considering a pair of EDGE/Envy forks- which are the ones with the "wrong" rake.

mmmm edge... rake schmake they are sexy... will this lead to you edgeing up your crabons though?

Nope, if those rims ever get logos they will be some sort of joke.

Head tube angle is 73.5, current fork rake is 45mm, trail is 53mm.

Possible new forks have a rake of 43mm, which would reduce trail by a small amount.

Less rake with means more trail AFAIK, assuming the forks are the same length.

Just to make sure the last four pages are accurate....

Unthreaded 1 1/8 steerer is a piece if piss, right? Measure twice etc etc, bung a stem on upside down to use as a guide and get stuck in with a hacksaw, right?

i thought up something last week when i had to cut my fork, i clamped on 2 old stems, left a 1/2mm gap for the blade. it worked really well.

^^^ sweet idea.

If your feeling really cheap, old headset spacers with jubliee clips behind them also works....well enough...

Spacers save the edges of the stem from the hacksaw blade too

Plumber's pipe cutters work really well, lovely tidy cut and can be had for less than a tenner

Just to make sure the last four pages are accurate....

Unthreaded 1 1/8 steerer is a piece if piss, right? Measure twice etc etc, bung a stem on upside down to use as a guide and get stuck in with a hacksaw, right?

I haz a question re unthreaded steerers.

If I have an unthreaded (alu) steerer with star-fangled nut already installed, and I want to cut the steerer down by no more than a couple of centimetres, do I:

a) attempt to knock the s-f nut down "just enough", and then cut the steerer
b) knock the s-f nut all the way down & out of the steerer, cut the steerer and then install a new s-f nut
c) cut the steerer and see where the s-f nut is in relation to the cut, and go from there (what could go wrong?)

I have the Park TNS-1 tool but I don't think a) is going to be very easy, since the installer is designed to stop the nut no more than 15mm below the top of the steerer. I'd have to knock it down with some other method (a punch? a bolt?). Do I just knock the existing nut down far enough that it's out of the way, and then cut the steerer and install a fresh nut? Will I feel the extra weight of this redundant nut on the commute?

I'd go for the c. And then screw in a new bolt, see what's going on and then tap it with a hammer to push the nut down a notch:-)
But that's me (too much time spent with Murtle).

So... I reckon I might finally cut this thing today...

Is there a maximum stack of spacers I should use? I have 100mm. Is that too much? It seems like a lot. This is just so I can cut conservatively and figure out the right height using an adjustable stem.

Scobalki.

It's going to be very ugly...