Star nuts, expanders and a carbon steerer

Giraffoto

Ouija wrote:

cooldad wrote:

You don't need one, but it does leave an ugly looking hole without. I'm not a tart but....

Top cap rubber bung.....

Well, if I'd gone the route of applying the preload with a threaded rod and two big washers passed through the steerer, I was planning on something like this, but less ugly. I'd consider it worth getting a pair of bar end plugs just to put one in the top, for instance

njee20

Too small.

I had one of these on order for months, but they were rubbish, and I discovered the creeping stem, so gave up.

Giraffoto

Well, following the disappointment of the Hope expander (which will still get used, fortunately) I've now invested in an expander plug that's described as 22-26mm. A quick check on the fork showed that the actual inner diameter is around 22mm (it's no less, as far down as the vernier's inner jaws will reach) so it's to be hoped that this will fix it.

The Schmoltke carbon fork bung is a nice lightweight option from a company that calls 30g "heavy" - but since I've saved a kilogram with a rigid carbon fork, I can afford to be a bit extravagant and give a free ride to 30g or so. If this latest steerer bung fits it will be the second from last component - the last being the wheels, which I've still not decided on.

njee20

The Schmolke top cap doesn't preload the headset anyway, it just goes inside the steerer once you take the expander (which can be pretty heavy) out.

Ouija

You can also DIY a head cap bung yourself. Just pop into a hardware store and get a rubber bung to go on the bottom of a chair leg or a door stop and simply screw or push your top cap screw through the center of it and then push it into the top of the steerer. If your using an internal preloader then you'd obviously have to remove that first (after you've preloaded the headset and tightened up the stem, obviously). Since i use external preloaders i even experimented with using the steerer to store stuff in (rubber top cap bungs at both ends), including ponchos, rolled up maps, medical kits and even lithium ion batteries for my Cree XML lights (had a jack socket going through the hole in the top cap).

By far the best internal preloader bung is the french TA Specialites one.



.. which has three rubber 'O' rings round it for better grip on the inside of the steerer. It also came with four or five bags full of O rings of the same diameter but different thickness’s for different internal diameters. Thick ones for steel steerers, thinner ones for aluminium steerers, skinnier ones for carbon steerers as well as all the above for 1" steerer tubes etc (28.6mm - 23.6mm -24.5mm -25.4mm -26.3mm). Made all the other internal bungs i've owned look pretty crap by comparison but, unfortunately is as hard as hens teeth to find these days.

Giraffoto

Success at last, with the Top Cap from Exotic (Carboncycles). It fits neatly into the 22mm bore of the steerer and can be made fast there, so it's the solution I'll stick with. Next challenge - shortening the steerer. Measure 200 times, cut once . . .