Recently had a used Santa Cruz Blur LT (circa 2007) frame delivered and slowly built up a nice set of, albeit dated components to use with it. Only stumbling block this far is the forks - ideally wanted a pair of Fox Talas or Float's, however it appears trying to find a Fox forks with the 1 1/8th straight steerer, that haven't been cut down below 200mm is nigh on impossible.
Am I right in thinking a headtube length of 130mm, a cane creek 40 ext headset with 28mm stack height, plus a thomson elite x4 stem with 40mm stack height basically means I can't touch a fork with a stem of less than 200mm?
Any help would be appreciated...
Eeer, not sure. BUMP.
PS as the Rev. bearnecessities taught me:
Measure twice cut once. No, really.
*a 200mm steerer rather, not stem..
Yes, you are correct 130+28+40 = 198 so a minimum of 198mm is required for steerer.
Sounds about right to me. If you're struggling to find a fork that suits you may want to look at a different stem. When I was in a similar boat a 30mm clamp height Funn 'Funduro' stem sorted me out.
BBB make a steerer tube extender which I have just fitted to my forks as i wanted to raise my stem up about 10mm
[url= http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=235105 ]http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=235105[/url]
I don't think i would be happy using it if part of the steerer was not already clamped by the stem.
Ragley also do a low stack height stem.
Not sure what travel you need but I've got Fox float 100 with a steerer length of 220 spare.
Cheers.
andy
the Funnduro stem sorted me out to. I still have it somewhere if you want it?
Its got something like 28mm stack (I think).
You could go down to about a 195mm steerer, assuming all your measurements are spot on.
Or you could investigate a lower stack height stem.
In order the tighten the headset you need the steerer to end 2-3 mm below the top of the stack.
So if your stack height is 198, you need a streerer 195-196mm.
It's worth noting a lot of people will ride a spacer above the stem, so the streerer tube passes completely through the stem, ending just before the top of the spacer. I'm not sure on the science behind this vs having the tube end at the stem. On my BMX we would slam stems so this would be fine, but on my MTB i have a spacer above the stem simply due to laziness cutting off the final 1cm or so.
do you think you'd trust that bbb extender on rough stuff anyone?
I might have the same problem soon.
jekkyl - Member - Quote
do you think you'd trust that bbb extender on rough stuff anyone?
Nope.
Having had a similar issue recently I've ended up with a solution of a Dartmoor Charge headset (stack height 26mm) & Funnduro stem (30mm stack. At 60mm length is actually 10mm short of what I was after, but couldn't find one that would work)
For the record the lowest stack height stem I found was:
http://dartmoor-bikes.com/hardware/stems/funky at 28mm in a deeply unfashionable 25.4, so new bars would have been required, but at only 35mm length would have turned an already twitchy bike into a crash-tastic nightmare.
do you think you'd trust that bbb extender on rough stuff anyone?
I might have the same problem soon.
It seems like a sound engineering solution to me the extenders fits along way down the steerer tube with a compression fit exactly like a quill stem. The headset then preloads into that. I cannot see how it creates any stress raisers which might lead to premature failure and if anything the shear area is increased.
Thanks for the help, chaps. Andy - I'd take you up on forks offer but blurLT has min req. travel of 130mm...apparently
The idea of running a spacer above the stem seems to make sense when you're dealing with carbon steerers on road forks as it makes sure the stem is fully gripping the steerer, spreads the clamping force more evenly and reduces risk of steerer damage.
In the past I've come across mtb steerers that have been ovalised at the top by over enthusiastic tightening of the upper stem bolt.
I think I've got a set of talas 36 uppers that would suit kicking about in the garage. They were on a 2007 blur Lt. Free if you want them (apart from postage that is). In central Scotland.