My wife just got a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 which has a carbon steerer tube. As part of the bike fit, they lowered the bar height and the stem has a couple of the spacers above it. The guy at the bike shop seemed to think that it would be better and "safer" to cut the steerer to eliminate the spacers. Is this true or would the change be purely cosmetic?
-alan
-- Alan Hoyle - [email hidden] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/ "I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.
My wife just got a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 which has a carbon steerer tube. As part of the bike fit, they lowered the bar height and the stem has a couple of the spacers above it. The guy at the bike shop seemed to think that it would be better and "safer" to cut the steerer to eliminate the spacers. Is this true or would the change be purely cosmetic?
-alan
-- Alan Hoyle - [email hidden] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/ "I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.
Safer in the sense that instead of a tube sticking above your stem, you now have a larger surface onto which you will slam your chest or face when your crankset or bb fails (or other incident causing you to pitch forward). Which spreads the impact. The only benefit.
And you really should leave one spacer above the stem as it makes for a better grab by the stem as the steerer above the top bolt adds to the rigidity of the tube below it. You will note that the top bolt, when there is no steerer above the stem, tightens much more easily and can lead to crushing if care isn't taken. Leaving a bit of tube above the stem helps to prevent this.
My wife just got a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 which has a carbon steerer tube. As part of the bike fit, they lowered the bar height and the stem has a couple of the spacers above it. The guy at the bike shop seemed to think that it would be better and "safer" to cut the steerer to eliminate the spacers. Is this true or would the change be purely cosmetic?
-alan
Mostly cosmetic, but it will provide a slightly less unpleasant place to slam your crotch or face in the event of an unplanned dismount.
I'd never cut the steerer way down on a new bike. I'd make sure I had plenty of time (weeks?) to trial fit the position before locking myself into a possibly too low bar height.
My wife just got a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 which has a carbon steerer tube. As part of the bike fit, they lowered the bar height and the stem has a couple of the spacers above it. The guy at the bike shop seemed to think that it would be better and "safer" to cut the steerer to eliminate the spacers. Is this true or would the change be purely cosmetic?
In addition to the impaling-yourself-on-the-steerer issue, there's also the fact that carbon steerers have a limit to how much spacer you can have between headset and stem. If respecting this limit precludes ever using the additional height you could get out of the steerer currently, that might have been part of what he was murmuring about.
My wife just got a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 which has a carbon steerer tube. As part of the bike fit, they lowered the bar height and the stem has a couple of the spacers above it. The guy at the bike shop seemed to think that it would be better and "safer" to cut the steerer to eliminate the spacers. Is this true or would the change be purely cosmetic?
The chance of hurting yourself on that (in a situation where you would not be hurt as badly otherwise) is not worth considering. What is worth considering is that you might want to move the bars up at some point, and without spacers above the stem, you do not have that capability.
Don't let him cut it off.
--
David L. Johnson
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. [1 Corinth. 13:2]
My wife just got a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 which has a carbon steerer tube. As part of the bike fit, they lowered the bar height and the stem has a couple of the spacers above it. The guy at the bike shop seemed to think that it would be better and "safer" to cut the steerer to eliminate the spacers. Is this true or would the change be purely cosmetic?
-alan
cosmetic. leave it until absolutely sure of height preference, and that may be months.
My wife just got a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 which has a carbon steerer tube. As part of the bike fit, they lowered the bar height and the stem has a couple of the spacers above it. The guy at the bike shop seemed to think that it would be better and "safer" to cut the steerer to eliminate the spacers. Is this true or would the change be purely cosmetic?
-alan
--
4cm of spacers under the stem is what we use on a 1 1/8 carbon fork steerer. More than that and you risk breaking a steerer.
