…than cutting a steerer? No matter how many times I check and re-check it still gives me that pit of the stomach fear!

Boo!!!

I can barely cut a seatpost

eee, as me old man allers tort me…
son, measure twice. cut once…..
still, it never does stop the old ‘1p – 2p’ moment as one ‘offers up’ the cut part to be fitted 🙂

measure twice. cut once…..

I think I measured about 50 times, but it still doesn’t stop the need for brown trousers when I eventually come to cutting!

I have some reba world cups with carbon crown and steerer.

They still have 20mm poking through the stem….

Cutting a carbon steerer that’s integrated in to the crown….. 😕

several of my bikes have excess steerer (with an old tennis ball shoved on top to provide massive protection in case of me landing on the sticky-outy bit)

Nah, cutting an integrated seatmast on a carbon frame is scarier 😯

Nah, cutting an integrated seatmast on a carbon frame is scarier

Thats something I would definately get someone else to do…

mrlugz – Member

Nah, cutting an integrated seatmast on a carbon frame is scarier

Thats something I would definately get someone else to do…

Hell yes! Forgot about that….A mechanic brown trouser inducing moment if ever there was one!

Thats something I would definately get someone else to do…

+1

Just did my new forks the other day, used some masking tape for a line and one of these for a perfect cut.

http://www.mptools.co.uk/products.asp?partno=10580

Works a treat everytime and super quick. As for cutting carbon forks, wouldn’t touch them.

No point paying someone else to do it, only cost me a pair of underpants and a 32tpi hacksaw blade 😀

teadrinker – I used one of them and found it excellent (I had a practice go on the top half inch of tube before I did the ‘real’ cut though!).

Pfft, bunch of pussies! Cutting your steerer right down for use with an integrated stem is when it gets really good – 5mm above the top of your headset? That’s where the real action is 😉

Cutting is scary.

However, if you really want to go for that gut-wrenching, stomach-dropping moment of anguish, self-recrimination and an absolute moment of non-delusional clarity as to your levels of stupidity the 30 seconds AFTER you attempt to fit your stem onto a steerer tube that no longer pokes through the headset does take some beating! 😳

Measure twice (or more), cut once, use some kinda guide to help keep it straight, go nice and slow, nice and steady, use a blade with lots of teeth … what could possibly go wrong ? Cutting whilst the forks are on the bike is more of a challenge, but still perfectly doable.

(All that said, I feel it’s only fair to confess to having used a disc-cutter in the past, then tidied it up a bit with a couple of files.)

Carbon is weird stuff to cut – I don’t like the lack of resistance, and there’s no feedback in the blade, plus it does that creep self-lubricating thing with it’s own dust too … I keep a very close eye on any cuts in carbon.

Steel on the other hand is lovely, it’s a material that makes perfect sense, decent steel has a grain you can feel when you work it, and it flows in a very predictable way. Much prefer steel as a bicycle material, and for all kinds of reasons.

@ muddydwarf – yeah, I can see how that’d make you feel …