My husband’s just bought a lovely new frame (orange 5 – his first full suss) and since getting home from work has been excitedly stripping his HT and putting the bits on the new frame… Everything was going fine, but then he got to the fork and the steerer is too short! 👿

(He had left a couple of spacers in on his old frame but the difference between the Orange headtube and the 456 is massive)

Obviously very upsetting as the fork’s very new too (20mm bolt thru revelation)

It’s out by aboout 1cm (perhaps a m or two more – allowing a little space above when fitting). Is there anything we can do other than buy a new fork?!

We’ve looked at shorter stack height stems but I think we’d only gain 5mm there. Are headsets all much the same stack height wise? Obviously an integrated headset would be good, but I don’t think you can retro fit them?

I can’t think of a solution so thought it was worth asking here just in case…

My poor hubby has now given up putting the bike together and is sitting in the corner looking very depressed… 🙁

FSA Orbit headsets are lowish stack – what headset is on now?

It’s a superstar – so more than happy to rip it out! Do you know what stack height the Orbit is?

Normal headset with a low (21mm) stack height:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=24985

Assuming your husband has a Cake Creek/Chris King-ish headset at 30mm-ish stack height)

…?

That’s get you, say, 9mm-ish, so there, or pretty much? Maybe go a tad further with a lower stack-height stem?

Failing that, flog the forks. Or buy a new crown/steerer.

Quick, to the rescue…

On-one stems are/were quite low-stack. And you only need to get so the bit of the stem with the top clamp bolt in is actually on the steerer. So if you are 20mm out to start with, you probably only need to gain 10mm back…

Mind you, it is his face, not mine

Crank bros have a VERY low stack headset

What stem is it, the clamp design may let you get away with having a short steerer.

cant the steerer be changed? on the forks my mate had some recons and got the steerer changed after he had snapped it?

£200+ fix there

I once had the same problem. Added a neatly cut off bit of steel steerer tube (5-10mm) and used a tight fsa conix headset adjuster in the top. No problems but a faff.

How would that help??

I replaced an FSA stem with a Ritchey one recently. The new one is 5mm “taller” then the old one, so a new stem may partially solve the problem provided the top bolt is below the top of the steerer tube.

How much would it be to get a new steerer fitted?

[EDIT – that much, huh?]

Thanks guys, it sounds like a crank brothers headset (which they sell at our lbs!) with a shorter stack stem might well do it.

Sharki – it’s a raceface evolve stem. Happy to buy a new stem though as we’re one short at the moment anyway – any recommendations very welcome! (the evolve stack height measures in at approx 40mm)

Thanks stuartie-c, I’ve just been to look at the (mtb) fsa stem on my roadbike and that does look shorter!…

yep, just measured it – it was a bit dark but it looked to be about 35mm – which with the CB headset would do it!

Does anyone know if FSA do an oversize stem in 80/90mm? (Sorry to take advantge!)

Yep, a Crank Brothers head set with a Truvativ stem (they only have one bolt) should fit.

Woohoo! Thanks so much guys – it looks like STW has saved the day again!

I’ve just found that FSA do an o/s 90mm stem and they even quote the stack height – 35mm – Perfect! (Truativ sounds good too with the one bolt but I can’t find the stack height anywhere)

So yep, a new stem and that CB headset will solve the problem! Hooray!

We might even be able to get out riding this weekend!

Thanks again everyone! My hubby looks much happy now! 😀

I’ve got a Titus 90mm spare in the boot of the car, measure the size of your stem and I’ll see if it is smaller.

Just measured my Truvativ team stem in the shed and the stack height is the same as FSA at 35mm.

Thanks Jim, it’s 40mm so it’d need to be 35mm or less… Happy to pay the going rate if it’s a goer. Cheers!

Ooh cool – how much do you want for it?

I looked into many solutions and the best i could find was by taking the fork off the lapierre and removing the spacers and swapping forks….. 😆

What about one of these?

No longer available from CRC but I’m sure you could get hold of one somewhere. I used one for a little while as I needed just a centimetre more steerer. Basically it sits inside the steerer tube and you use as many or as few of the pictured spacers as you need to extend it above the top of your steerer. Tightens up with (iirc) an 8mm allen key and the hollow 8mm wedge bolt is internally threaded to accept a 5mm headset cap bolt so you can use your existing headset cap or the one supplied. Worked fine – I wouldn’t want to use it for a lot of downhill or as a long term solution but it would certainly do the job pretty safely until you could sort out some new forks.

Lol Sharki – that was the first thing I suggested! Probably not the most sensitive given the circumstances! Looks like we’e sorted without any added excuse to buy the Lapierre though… 🙁

Having said that, I am gathering a list of things I could sell in case I love it when I test ride it (your mate is letting me have it for a week!)… how much do you reckon i could get for a kidney on the open market? 😉

My son only has one kidney…….

Ben is a top man OMG, a whole week!
I feel good intentions are going to go way out the window……..

Thanks Mamadirt – that looks like an interesting solution, but like you say – probably not a good plan (especially as hubby isn’t the lightest not more delicate rider! He also likes to do downhill, a lot!)

Hopefully the headset and stem solution will work!

Yep, there they go – I’m waving as you speak…

(Oh and yep, he certainly is a top man!)

When are you picking it up, i was thinking of riding down and see a mate near there next week, so may pop in to meet you..lol

Sorry MountainMonkey but my Truvativ stem is 100mm with a 25.4 clamp so it wouldn’t work with your bars. If you don’t mind changing your bars you can have the stem for a fiver.

the o/s truvativ team stem is also not 35mm stack, its 38mm, sram site confirms this.

Ah thanks Jim, kind offer but I’ll leave it. Especially with what dobo says (thanks mate!) I’ll grab an FSA one – looks like I can get one for £20 which isn’t bad. Thanks again!

Sharki – unfortunately he wasn’t able to get it in until the beginning of June, so I have to wait a while… Hopefully we’ll have met by then though! Read about your x-ray, doesn’t sound great but at least can get out on the road. Looking forward to seeing you soon – the 456 is ready when you want it!

Sweet, i’ll see how the riding feels and then see about riding up the 38 to see ya for a social… seems i’ve got a few weeks free so may as well get my fitness up and visit peeps.

Providing the steerer is past the top bolt it will be fine. I ran one like this for ages without any issues & that was on a rigid fork that inevitably takes more punishment. Combine it with a decent headlock or even add a second star nut & the most you’ll do is have the stem slip.

[waiting for the “experts” to come flame me now] 🙂

Coolio, thanks takisawa2. We’re going to hopefully get a headset later today, so we’ll see how that goes – stem is on order too.

Sharki – yeah come visit! If you don’t feel up to cycling all the way, I commute by train and bike everday and it’s pretty good easy – the staff at Parkway are cool too. (we’re an 8 min cycle from Parkway)

Anyway, will email you soon – I’m just off for a road cycle now!