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Last night I was bored watching TV so decided to cut the steerer down on my Giant TCX Adv.. Thought I'd share this as some of you have the carbon forks on your TCX's too..
The steerer in the Giant TCX with carbon forks and steerer has a funny "star nut" configuration. It's contained within a small alloy tube with a star wedge where the nut slides into, as you tighten the alloy bolt up the nut slides up the wedge in the tube..This fits in the steerer and is undone/done up in the same way as any normal star nut config. It's just that instead of a simple nut the whole assembly fits within the steerer in a contained alloy tube, the inner wedge thingy and then the nut. All tightened by the same methods as all other bikes with the cup on to of the headset/stem.
Don't be tempted to undo the alloy bolt and expect the nut to stay in the steerer because it undoes and drops into the bottom of the steerer tube, which is a bit annoying and you have to turn the bike upside down to get it out.
Anyways the alloy tube thingy that holds the alloy wedge is only a press fit in the steerer, if you just undo the bolt a few turns and then get hold of some mole grips and pull upwards the whole thing comes out of the steerer in one piece. No fuss, no bother. It should be a press fit in the steerer so you may have to wiggle it but it comes out easy enough.
Once it's out you can cut the steerer in the normal methods you would normally take, i used a couple of jubilee clips and a junior hacksaw and some emery cloth to take the rough edges off.
Just thought I'd share that.
So you're saying it has an expander wedge in there instead of a SFN? Like all carbon steerers...?
Thanks for sharing but what njee said 😉
[i] a junior hacksaw and some emery cloth to take the rough edges off[/i]
I hope you wore a mask and did this outdoors?
Yes it's kinda an expanding wedge thingy..
It's definetly not a nut that digs into the inner of the carbon steerer tube, nope Sir'ee.
Think of it as an alloy 60mm in length cylinder shaped object that has grooves cut into it, then a nut that fits one end and a bolt that goes into the other (that the bolt would go through the cap) then the cylinder thingy is wrapped in a thin (very thin) alloy cover wrapping around the cylinder thingy. Then the whole assembly slides into the steerer and then as you tighten (un tighten) the bolt through the top cap the nut slides on the inside of this cylinder thingy up and down to tighten against the inner steerer tube.
If you understand that then well done, I'm not in the slightest mechanically minded and I managed it 😆
Ok, so I completely undid it and gave it a tap, like you would a SFN, and the nut just dropped out the bottom of this cyclinder thingy into the bottom of the steerer, where upon it had to tip the bike upside down to get it to locate back in the base of the steerer then attach the bolt in back into it to get the nut located back into the cyclinder thingy where the location grooves are.. Bit of a pain.
So had I known that the whole assembly comes out in one affair you just undo the bolt a few times then lift the whole thing out in one as you raise the stem/bars off I'da been done in 20mins, as is it took me about an hours but hey.
Reason I posted is because it's the first time I've seen this assembly before. Certainly neater than an SFN digging into the carbon steerer IMO.
Nope no gloves, not outdoors, good old hacksaw with me blowing the carbon dust all over my spare bedroom.
😀
Think of it as an alloy 60mm in length cylinder shaped object that has grooves cut into it, then a nut that fits one end and a bolt that goes into the other (that the bolt would go through the cap) then the cylinder thingy is wrapped in a thin (very thin) alloy cover wrapping around the cylinder thingy. Then the whole assembly slides into the steerer and then as you tighten (un tighten) the bolt through the top cap the nut slides on the inside of this cylinder thingy up and down to tighten against the inner steerer tube.
So it's like a wedge shaped thing...? Which expands...?
Intriguing 😉
Indeed 8)
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@bikebuoy
the stock wedge item you described is designed to allow you to determine your front end height setup prior to cutting the steerer, by allowing easy removal.
Its a variation on a standard item used on pretty much all carbon steerer bikes as the SFN would damage the carbon construction and could cause the steerer tube to fail. Carbon forks with aluminium alloy steerers often use the SFN
If you wish, you can then bond a much simpler and lighter fixed Giant supplied piece (15g vs. 45g) into place - for Overdrive 2 steerer bikes this should have been supplied with the bike, along with an Iso Alcohol wipe, piece of emery cloth and Superglue gel tube.
I've just done this on my new Defy after cutting the steerer shorter.
Ohh cheers ES, shall take a look in the "bag of bits" that came with it 😆