broken steertube

[ivanooze]

this past tuesday i went out to do some big ring intervals (53x12?) up a climb at 20-30 rpm

-every part of the bike was feeling great during the warmup but then... it happened

- as soon as i started pulling up on the bars for my 1st interval, i feel a sudden loosening of the bars. i stop to check what had happened.
- at first i thought the faceplate had loosened, causing the bars to swing up, but it wasn't that.

-next i checked the headset bolt, thinking that it had broken leaving it possible for the stem to slide off the steertube somehow, but... it wasn't that either.

- Next i thought, ok it must be the stem bolts that loosened causing the stem/bars to move out of their alignment. But of course, as you can tell from the title of this thread, that it wasn't the stem at all.

-Finally, i grab the bike by the stem and begin to move it up and down. From there i see where the base of the stem meets my headset spacer begin to open up.

- From here i thought 2 things.
1. I'm glad this didn't happen while descending and..
2. This is freaking awesome, i almost just pulled off a Hincapie.

-with all that being said, is it still safe to ride my bike despite having the steertube fail on me like that? I've ridden my fuji roubaix for 8 years now, and within those 8 years, it's been subject to rain rides, dirt rides, numerous crashes, and of course numerous amounts of mileage.

here's a few pics for your viewing pleasure
https://forums.thepaceline.net/attac...1&d=1513832084

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attac...1&d=1513832091

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attac...1&d=1513832096

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attac...1&d=1513832102

[ivanooze]

and another one

https://forums.thepaceline.net/attac...1&d=1513832193

[FlashUNC]

Time for a new fork.

[ivanooze]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Time for a new fork.

yeah i figured that much

[fogrider]

what kind of crashes? usually the handlebars hits the ground...I guess we should check the steerertube closely.

[oliver1850]

I'd check the frame over carefully for cracks. Finding none I wouldn't be afraid of it. We all should look things over more carefully and more often.

[Kontact]

So, star washer hammered into a carbon steerer, rather than an expansion plug? Or is that an aluminum steerer? Sometimes older carbon looks chalky.

[sales guy]

Originally Posted by Kontact

So, star washer hammered into a carbon steerer, rather than an expansion plug? Or is that an aluminum steerer? Sometimes older carbon looks chalky.

looks alloy to me.
but Cannondale did have star nuts in carbon steerers.

This is why I use 50mm long expanders on forks.

[ivanooze]

Originally Posted by Kontact

So, star washer hammered into a carbon steerer, rather than an expansion plug? Or is that an aluminum steerer? Sometimes older carbon looks chalky.

come on give me some credit, i'm not just a pretty face, i got some set of brains (not much but enough) on me to realize i shouldn't put a star in a carbon steer. it's an aluminum steer/carbon fork

[Kontact]

Originally Posted by ivanooze

come on give me some credit, i'm not just a pretty face, i got some set of brains (not much but enough) on me to realize i shouldn't put a star in a carbon steer. it's an aluminum steer/carbon fork

I didn't know you installed it at all.

[ivanooze]

Originally Posted by fogrider

what kind of crashes? usually the handlebars hits the ground...I guess we should check the steerertube closely.

hmmm let me make a list of the ones i remember.

1. hit a gigantic, hard as a rock pine cone that flipped me over while in a tight TTT formation. teammate didn't see it, so he dodged it rather quickly which didnt give me time to react.

2. crashed twice while racing, once in a crit, once in a road race.

3. Not sure if this would effect the fork in anyway but i've had multiple near crash experiences where i've had to hit the brakes extremely hard.

4. the bike was dropped by accident a few times on it's side

5. ridden on a bunch of crappy roads which im sure all of us have.

i'm sure there's more trauma that happened to this bike that i'm not remembering

[ivanooze]

Originally Posted by Kontact

I didn't know you installed it at all.

i have done some cutting of the steer which inevitably forced me to push the star down lower. so that could've had something to do with why the steer failed. However, the crack was maybe 10-15 mm below where the star nut makes contact with the steer.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by ivanooze

-with all that being said, is it still safe to ride my bike despite having the steertube fail on me like that? I've ridden my fuji roubaix for 8 years now, and within those 8 years, it's been subject to rain rides, dirt rides, numerous crashes, and of course numerous amounts of mileage.

I think the frame itself is most probably fine.

If you're paranoid you might consider getting new handlebars, especially if they've been subjected to all the incidents you mention.

[ivanooze]

Originally Posted by Louis

I think the frame itself is most probably fine.

If you're paranoid you might consider getting new handlebars, especially if they've been subjected to all the incidents you mention.

well, over the 8 years i've done plenty of part swapping on the bike. the only original parts on the bike were the frame, fork, and seatpost. i've switched the bars out 3 times now and i believe i haven't crashed on this last set as well as the stem

[Louis]

In that case, get a new fork and you're good.