cutting the carbon steerer

samsbike

I have one of those Scott frames which comes with an uncut carbon steerer.

Mine has to be cut, however I have a couple of questions:

1. Can I cut the steerer which its on the bike or do I have to remove the fork?
2. Do I cut it with a hacksaw, knife, dremel or something else?
3. Other than making sure I measure accurately are there any pitfalls to doing this?

thanks

nicklouse

32Tooth hacksaw blade. a cutting guide. and a face mask. measure more that once before cutting.

Also i would actually not cut it to where you think you want it untill you have ridden it for some time with a great pile of spacers on top of the stem (ok cut it down a bit so you dont look like a tool) as new bikes dont always mean the same height as before etc...

Also read the fork makers info about max length of steerer to stem and if you should have atleast one 5mm spacer above the stem so that the steerer is able to be proud of the stem.

MichaelW

see http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Cutting-Carbon.html

leeefm

If you want to be a bit more careful with the sawing, I'd use a grit edge hacksaw blade. It'll reduce the tendency for the fibres to catch on a tooth of a regular blade.

http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/products/perma-grit/305mm-hacksaw-blade.aspx

It's good to get some abrasive paper just to finish too. Mind that dust though...

samsbike

Thanks all got the LBS to.do it. However they left around 40mm above the headset is that ok or is it too much?

keef66

samsbike wrote:

Thanks all got the LBS to.do it. However they left around 40mm above the headset is that ok or is it too much?

Depends how chunky your stem is. Note that Scott recommend a maximum of 5mm spacer above the stem.

When I put mine together I found I needed the steerer (with the expander bung in place) to be 5mm below the top spacer before I could remove all the play from the headset when tightening up the top cap.

Now I have discarded the upper spacer and chopped a bit more steerer off so it sits 5mm below the top of the stem.

If you don't know what you're doing it might be a good idea to get the bike shop to fit the whole thing for you. Or is that what you've done?

samsbike

keef66 wrote:

samsbike wrote:

Thanks all got the LBS to.do it. However they left around 40mm above the headset is that ok or is it too much?

Depends how chunky your stem is. Note that Scott recommend a maximum of 5mm spacer above the stem.

When I put mine together I found I needed the steerer (with the expander bung in place) to be 5mm below the top spacer before I could remove all the play from the headset when tightening up the top cap.

Now I have discarded the upper spacer and chopped a bit more steerer off so it sits 5mm below the top of the stem.

If you don't know what you're doing it might be a good idea to get the bike shop to fit the whole thing for you. Or is that what you've done?

Its the bike shop that did it and they did fit a 5mm spacer above it. I was just worred about the 40mm stack about the headset.

tonye_n

Sam...
The stack height of most stems would be about that 35-40mm?
So... there would have been a problem if they had left anything less than 40mm really.

In fact I would have asked for slightly more, in the event that a slight injury or twist to the nerves should require raising the handlebar height at some future date.