Crack in carbon fibre steerer

I'd say the person who sold it to you knew about the crack and wanted to get rid of the whole lot.

That fork shouldn't be riddin, and I hope for your sake it was cracked by over tightening the stem and not from something that could have affected the frame.

Say goodbye to fork. It does appear that it might have been cracked from over tightening, and it also appears, at least at the top, that the crack goes all the way through the tube wall.

Your problem is three-fold:

1. You don't know what the crack is from or if there is damage elsewhere in the fork.
2. You don't know if the damage is limited to the top 3 cm.
3. Even if the damage is limited to the top 3 cm, I don't think you'll have enough steerer left to work with any stem.

I would talk to the person that sold you the bike. They withheld some critical info from you. A fork like that should never have been sold to anyone.

BTW, you might want to share who sold the bike to you....to warn others.

Did you get it on ebay / Internet?

I am going to give the seller a chance to remedy the situation first. But thanks all for your feedback.

The crack has not gone through to the other side. I will try and get some feedback from the LBS round where I live.

Who is the manufacturer of the fork?

The cut at the top of the steerer is a hack job. It isn't smooth and has not been deburred. This caused multiple stress risers which may have contributed to crack propogation from either over-tightening the stem/expander of the headset pre-load plug or from flexing of the steerer.

So if the crack wasn't there would that steerer be long enough anyway? It looks to me like it's been cut waaay too short.

At least some carbon fork manugacturers recommend cutting the fork slightly overlong and using a thin stack spacer above the stem. That's to prevent clamping directly against the cut end of the steerer tube which can cause this kind of damage. It looks to me like the original owner missed that memo.

Its a Time Stiletto fork.

The steerer length is just nice, with a 5mm spacer on the top of the stem.

One of the suggestions I got was to epoxy in a aluminium sleeve. Would that work?

thomas_cho said:

Its a Time Stiletto fork.

The steerer length is just nice, with a 5mm spacer on the top of the stem.

One of the suggestions I got was to epoxy in a aluminium sleeve. Would that work?

Yes.

Just got some kind of reply from the seller who accused me of being the one that damaged the fork.

The seller insinuated that I was an inexperienced home mechanic who overtightened the stem and cracked the steerer. The seller further claimed that the mechanic who stripped the bike, did not notice the crack.

I am just sick of these accusations. I am lodging a claim with Ebay and attempt to claim some sort of compensation for the damaged fork.

Thomas,

If he (the seller) is that confident it was ok, then he should declare it "damaged in transit" and refund your money.

gclark8 said:

Thomas,

If he (the seller) is that confident it was ok, then he should declare it "damaged in transit" and refund your money.

+1. This way the seller would not lose any of his precious money, and things would be made right for you.

The seller is adamant that it was all my fault. Anyway the matter is now up to paypal to decide. Hopefully I get a positive result. A 1 inch fork is hard to find nowadays in Australia.

thomas_cho said:

. Hopefully I get a positive result. A 1 inch fork is hard to find nowadays in Australia.

yep, it's hard to get good 1" forks down here without getting ripped off. The options seem to be a few generics with alu steerers or very expensive ones such as full-carbon Eastons and Looks. Columbus forks are no longer brought out here in 1", which is a bummer coz they've come down a lot in price in the last couple of years.

I have a cheapish Roselli (http://www.hillbrick.com.au/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=202&category_id=0574446e8976210f6b6772d3bd3b9ea2&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=1) which has an alu steerer and is very good, but it's a little on the stiff side for my harshest aluminium frames. I have no issue using generic forks with alu steerers; they seem sturdier than the expensive ones!! 🙂 I'll be buying another one soon.

The Bike Sportz ad in the current Ride magazine says the new ITM Visia forks are available here in 1".

[img]itm.itf visia.jpgOpen ↗[/img]

You're also not limited to buying in Autstralia. You could easily order a Columbus fork from a reputable dealer overseas.

thomas_cho said:

Just got some kind of reply from the seller who accused me of being the one that damaged the fork.

I think you've been had. V sorry to hear of your experience. :eek:

Well thats really put a damper on this festive season, and add to the fact that I have been sick for the last two weeks. Sighs.

The seller is actually a shop based in Sydney( I recall seeing their ad on cyclingnews.com), which is why I purchased the frame/fork with a peace of mind. Unfortunately ... this has happened. If any of you are interested in the actual name of the shop just PM me.

I am still hoping for the best, but assuming the worst. Anyone know where I can purchase a 1 inch fork in Australia?

Thanks for your sympathy.

Hey Aussie531,

Thanks for the hillbrick link.

I have been looking around the regular online shops (local and overseas), and GBcycles have a ITM Vista for abt $200 AUD. Wrote them an email to get a quote on shipping.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

alienator said:

You're also not limited to buying in Autstralia. You could easily order a Columbus fork from a reputable dealer overseas.

Thanks for the suggestion, would appreciate it if you could drop me a link if you notice any. I have looked on Probikekit, Chainreactioncycles and they are not stocking any 1inch forks. The ones that they have are the high end ones.

In the past when I have enquired about shipping from online shops in the USA, the shipping costs have frequently been very high.

thomas_cho said:

Well thats really put a damper on this festive season, and add to the fact that I have been sick for the last two weeks. Sighs.

The seller is actually a shop based in Sydney( I recall seeing their ad on cyclingnews.com), which is why I purchased the frame/fork with a peace of mind. Unfortunately ... this has happened. If any of you are interested in the actual name of the shop just PM me.

I am still hoping for the best, but assuming the worst. Anyone know where I can purchase a 1 inch fork in Australia?

Thanks for your sympathy.

How about following the earlier suggestion of putting in an alloy sleeve? That might be the most economical salvage given the circumstance.