Steerer Tube Too Short: Disregard??

Ok ok, you guys are right. High penalty for failure is a good way to put it.

At least I made those with non constructive help feel smarter about themselves.

 

Did you not read my first post?

The headset bolt does not matter. Just imagine that the stem is so loose you could pull it off the steerer tube but the headset bolt holds it down. You may think "I'm safe" but you would be wrong. In fact you wouldn't be thinking at all because you suffered a concussion earlier when you couldn't steer. When you turned the bars the stem spun in a nice circle around the steerer tube.

epitaph: He died with the headset cap still in place.

 

Ride it, Etard...just ride it to the death!!:bang:

 

Have you measured the amount of steerer you have above the headset? There are some very low stack stems (syntace superforce only needs 28mm of steerer) and headsets (some are sub 27mm) out there.

If all else fails, go zip-tie and duct tape.

 

I wouldn't want to ride behind you.

 

Did you consider just cutting down the headtube?:?: most of them are too long anyways.
















by the way that was just a bad joke.

 

I hear biker gangs LOVE girlfriends with no teeth.

 

Finally!!! Somebody with some real help!! Thanks man, nice to know there is one person who gets my predicament and can offer help.

Abui,

I don't know how to make it more clear: The steer tube is halfway clamped and I need a thinner stem to fit proper. So yes it turns the forks when you turn the handlebar, and the stem cap bolt does not need to be on for this to happen.

The reason I thought it might be ok for a stem to only have one bolt around the steer tube was cuz the seat tube only has one bolt and seems to stay in place even when taking many times the wieght of me without budging. So, am I sooo far off in wondering if the stem should be so different?

I'd also like to apologize to everybody here for not having a better job so I can afford to buy some brand new forks to put on my bike, instead of the used set I got with a chopped off steer tube. My bad.

 

What frame, steertube size, headset and stem. Also any spacers being used?

 

As long as you can afford medical insurance, I don't care what you do (of course, it's only for your best interest that you have the insurance). Money is not the issue - people with and without money equally make bad decisions.

If you're confident in your mechanical abilities, by all means, do what you feel is right! That being the case, why did you ask the question here?

 

Look, its all going to depend on what stem you have. Some stems will grip with less steerer in them, some need to be damn near fully engaged. Good rule of thumb, you want at minimum 3/4 of the stem on the steerer. Like some have already said, you should be able to remove the preload bolt and top cap post setup if you have enough steerer in the stem<unless you have a Chris King headset>.

What I have come to find on parts like this, your buying a used part, and end up spending damn near as much to make said used part work in the frist place.



What frame do you have, what headset, and what stem? These are all relevant info that is needed to truly properly answer this question

 

That pic is priceless

 

#1 - No need to apologize for not being able to afford shiny new gear, but it might be worth it to sell or trade this fork and get one with the right length steerer tube, or pay to get a new tube pressed in.

#2 - Comparing the seat tube to stem is truly an apples to oranges thing. Think about your seat clamp: It can be semi-tight and you may not be able to slide it up and down, but you can probably grab the seat and twist it. Now think about +/- 26" handlebars and much of your body weight riding on the bars on hard descents, and you can imagine that you can put a LOT of torque on the stem and steerer. You want that connection to be rock solid. Besides, if the seatpost slips in the tube a little, the result is inconvenient. If the stem comes loose, the consequence is total loss of control, and it would mostly likely happen at the worst moment (steep and/or high speed).

#3 - Abui can certainly speak for himself, but his point as I read it was that the cap & bolt are irrelevant to your question, but that the situation you described - "the stem halfway clamped" and not fitting properly - is extremely dangerous.

Honestly etard, from the tone of yours and some other posts in this thread, I wasn't sure if you were serious with this question at first, but it seems you are. So to simplify a long answer - don't do it.

 

HAHA!! Great pic Mike!

Parts rundown:

Manitou Stance forks with approx. 6.5" steer tube

Raceface Diabolus stem

FSA Pig headset

No spacers

Here's some pics for your veiwing pleasure. Even the dogs are wondering WTF are you doing??:lol:

 

Yikes!

Wow - that looks like a trip to the ER waiting to happen!

 

even your dogs can see it won't work. go ebay or something forks are cheap.

 

That Marzocchi stem and a head-lock might work, but it's designed to sit directly on top of the top triple clamp of a dual crown fork. With your current setup, there are two problems. 1) the top pinch bolt bottoming out on your top cap (or worse, the gap touches) doesn't provide any clamping for on the steerer. Even with QR threaded into the star nut. the headset is going to come loose. 2) the load being applied to the small area of steerer being held by the lower half of the stem (not being cantilevered buy the missing length of tube to the top of the stem) is taking ALL of the steering AND impact forces when you ride (up, down, side to side, twisting, etc.). LOTS of forces in a small area of material means faster fatigue. I've seen a rash of steerer failures on BMX forks lately. Some just below the stem (with just a couple of spacers). One right beneath the compression ring at the top bearing of the headset.

Even in a perfect setup, there is allot of different forces at play. Don't cut corners here.

 

After seeing the photos and if etard still wants to ride it like that, I say let him. We can all now start to practice our "I told ya so" dance.

Is that the Dr. Kevorkian model dirt jumper frame?

It's pretty obvious that the concept of leverage is not understood here.

I hope your insurance is current.

 

if you could get a shorter stem, shorter headset, and a headlock... I think you might end up in the "safer..but not completely legit" range....