AlphaQ alu sleeve help!!!

[StephenCL]

Folks,

Somehow in transporting my fork back and forth for paint, I have lost the aluminum sleeve....

Its a 1inch alpha q fork, and was new.

Does anyone have one of these?.

[hollowgram5]

Folks,

Somehow in transporting my fork back and forth for paint, I have lost the aluminum sleeve....

Its a 1inch alpha q fork, and was new.

Does anyone have one of these?.
If someone has one, and you can get dimensions, I'd love to get them. I need to shorten one an alphaq, and don't have a replacement sleeve. I am looking to have a new one made potentially.

[ultraman6970]

Always you can use something long like the colnago or itm (i think) extra long expander. The other option IMO is to use a seatpost shim and then use a regular expander?

[cadence90]

Always you can use something long like the colnago or itm (i think) extra long expander.
I would NOT recommend using a standard expander, regardless of length, on an Alpha-Q fork. The Alpha-Q forks (that I have seen) have substantially thinner walls than other forks. I'm looking at an A-Q Sub3 versus a Reynolds Ouzo-Pro (both 1 1/8") right now, and the O-P steerer wall is almost twice as think as that of the A-Q. That was the reason for the 4" long A-Q alu sleeve in the first place

The other option IMO is to use a seatpost shim and then use a regular expander?
Something like this (i.e a long substitute alu sleeve, bonded to the steerer per A-Q recommendations (J-B Weld)), so that it then takes the force of the actual expander plug, would be the better solution, imo, since a stock 1" A-Q insert will be almost impossible to find.

[oldpotatoe]

If someone has one, and you can get dimensions, I'd love to get them. I need to shorten one an alphaq, and don't have a replacement sleeve. I am looking to have a new one made potentially.

If the sleeve is glued in really well, you can lower the SFN and then cut the sleeve. As long as the stem still clamps onto the sleeve.

[bicycletricycle]

Mcmastercarr has lots of sizes of aluminum tubing.

Find some that is about .020-.030 or 1/32" smaller than the steerer tube ID. Rough it up with sand paper and glue it in.

If will probably end up thicker than the original but that is probably ok.

I AM NOT AN ENGINEER

[oldpotatoe]

Mcmastercarr has lots of sizes of aluminum tubing.

Find some that is about .020-.030 or 1/32" smaller than the steerer tube ID. Rough it up with sand paper and glue it in.

If will probably end up thicker than the original but that is probably ok.

I AM NOT AN ENGINEER

Remember still gotta pound a star fangled nut in there, 1 inch size, small, about 7/8 inch in diameter.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Sourcing these is near impossible. None of the other sleeves on the market fit. I ended up having one (plus a spare) made up by someone who knows his poop and is on this forum. It was at a very reasonable cost. I'm not going to out the guy publicly because I'm not sure how much of that he wants to do, but PM me. I may have a spare one in my bin, too.


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[bicycletricycle]

Remember still gotta pound a star fangled nut in there, 1 inch size, small, about 7/8 inch in diameter.

That is true, I have had some luck grinding star nuts down a little for smaller applications.

Thread bolt into star nut
Insert the end of that bolt into drill and tighten chuck
Spin drill while grinding/sanding star nut on a grinder or disc/belt sander

Once I made them small enough to fit inside mtb handlebars

[unterhausen]

I would like to know the length. I have a fork with very long steerer, and I'm pretty sure there is plenty of steerer left under the insert. I'll probably lathe the carbon off of the insert once I cut it. Just hold my breath until the carbon dust settles