Measure twice, cut once.
New hack saw blade.

Anything else I should know?

Put some masking tape around the point you want to cut and make sure when it gone around the edges meet up perfectly. Use this as a straight line marker.

A saw guide is also very useful. I bought one (around £15) and have used it lots more than i thought i would.

Oh, and don’t forget a file to rub down the rough bits once you’re done.

An old stem works well for a cutting guide as well

Don’t cut* the steerer whilst the fork is fitted and using the headset spacers as guides.

Whilst it worked I can honestly NOT recommend this 😆

* of course using a semi blunt junior hacksaw blade.

And don’t lose sleep if it’s not perfectly level.

It’s nice to get it perfect, but isn’t critical, so long as the stem clamp is over the lowest point and the highest doesn’t touch the stem cap.

Old stem as a guide is good (as said ^^). I’ve also used a big old spacer held in place with a few turns of insulating tape which worked quite well. Obviously having a solid vice to hold it in is extremely useful too!

I fear you guys are not really entering into the spirit of all things WCA

That’d work 😆

I used an old stem as a guide the other day. Ended up sawing in to the stem at an angle. Now have one unusable stem and a lop-sided steerer… 🙄

😯 🙄

when i write my self help book im going to call it ‘cutting the steerer tube’ 😆

buy a pipe cutter, £3 from Wilkinsons. Cuts through aluminium steerers in no time. I’ve used mine on steel too, which it cut successfully but rather blunted the cutting blade.

Use a tube cutter instead. Should go through an alloy steerer ok.

blade guide = headset spacers + ducktape

Works reasonably well!

I +3 the pipe cutter – works fine provided you don’t over tighten and snap the plastic body of the cheap ones 🙂

Tube cutters rock for steerer tubes

whip round the edges with a file once you’ve finished to remove the sharp edges

I’ve used a jubilee clip as a guide quite a few times. But next time I’ll probably get a tube cutery thing as it’s good to have obscure tools in your tool box.

I am getting a pipe cutter like this blokes :

Hours of fun!

Lidl have an angle grinder holder for £9.99, that looks ideal for this sort of thing. I need one. It will go with the welder, cement mixer & scaffolding tower that I had to buy from Aldi.

Heard a story (and saw the pics) of a guy who gave his brand new Lyrics to a non-riding mate with a machine shop.

“Can you cut an inch off these please?”

He cut it down and LEFT an inch on!

Gutted!

i cut a few with various forum-wisdom guides and techniques, then i bought a park tools guide and my goodness it makes it so easy. brilliant tool, well worth getting and doing the job correctly every-time.

this is possibly totally elementary or i am stupid but i wrap the stanchions in an old towel, and be aware that after you’ve cut it filings might be inside the steerer tube so empty that out so that they don’t fall on to the stanchions.

Surely all you need is to dip the relevant portion of the steerer into some liquid nitrogen and then hit with a hammer.

What’s the worst that can happen WCA?

😉

Use a tube cutter instead. Should go through an alloy steerer ok.

+1

do make sure you make any measurements from the crown of the fork up, not top of the steerer down.

If you’re only taking a bit off and there’s already a star-nut in it, make sure that you knock the star-nut down far enough inside (but not too far) before you cut.

Measure twice, cut once.

Measure twice in metric. Measure again in imperial to confirm metric measurement. Verify this by measuring again in metric. Put old steerer next to new steerer and tentatively make a mark on the new steerer in pencil. Measure again. Confirm the pencil mark by going over it with felt tip.

Apply masking tape/old stem/spacers/whatever. Take them all off and measure again. Reapply masking tape/old stem/spacers.

Start cutting. Stop cutting immediately and check again.

Make a cuppa.

Man up and starting cutting again. It’s just a steerer tube on a pair of forks costing £100s what’s the worst that could happen?

measuring is the most important thing
cutting is not important as long as you cut in the right place
I have a steerer tube which looks like a dog’s chewed through it…
at the wrong angle
but as long as you file it down so there are no burrs, it’s hidden by the stem so doesn’t matter AT ALL!

What are you lot? Kids?

I don’t know what that monster is but i know that i want one.

Measure twice, cut once.

I measured, I cut, I measured again. Why did they change the length of a millimetre while I was cutting?

Anyway, I prefer it with the extra spacer. 😉

+1 for Mr Tall. Halfsies?

APF