During buildup of my (Pina) frame, the supplier of the handlebar forgot to send the pressure plate that goes inside the handlebars to spread the transmission of torque onto the fork. As a result of shite assembly instructions, videos and scope of delivery, I cracked the fork during assembly, even though I used 1 Nm there's a hole now. I reached out to the shop about the missing part, but they're sticking their heads into the sand. We're going to court early next year. Wish honesty paid for me ...

Time fork by chance?

@@antonmothes3160 Oval Concepts (I think they're defunct now).

Seems like you didn't deserve a new fork did you

@@jaysparc and that's why (the surviving) manufacturers are reluctant to do that...🙂

so my cap shouldnt touch a bung?

@@RV-jq5pb Consult your local hairdresser.

Yes spotted that... if it touches the bung you won't get any pre-load.

Where do I buy?

Chooch out Hambini pen extenders. My hairdresser loves the results. I'm bald, btw.

Aeroupvote

And you can put a little resthead on top of the head tube !

Better to cut a hole in the middle of the head tube. Canyon did this for Cadel Evans

Pro tip: skip the handlebars altogether for an aero look

That VeloBike website is straight up crack for track bike fiends. I had never heard of it before, so thanks for this comment!

Were talking carbon here!

Yeah. The key is to make sure the add-on is well sit in epoxy and bond stays solid. The result is pretty much as strong as a single straight tube.

how its going with the Chinese extension ? Any problem? Do you do trails?

@@guinieroo Well I haven't actually had a purpose to put them on my bike.. But my former alu frame had a little shorter head set mount/part so it is a little short for my new Carbon frame. Nothing serious, but I would like to get my handlebar and stem a little further up, in spite of a small increase in weight.

Clamp two stems and cut between em. Mentioned on previous vidyo comments

Spray water on carbon as you cut it. USE A DIAMOND BLADE! Its abrasive. Easy Peezy. Lubricant is always best in a cutting action. Cut slow and steady. No high pressure, wrap the area to be cut in masking tape to minimize splintering. Old machinist's wisdom: Measure twice, cut once. You cannot cut it longer!! I'm an old retired machinist. I worked on all sorts of really expensive stuff where exotic materials were only made in a few places around the world. Getting more material could mean waiting 6 months! We always mocked up our processes in cheaper expendable materials FIRST. I say, measure 4 or even 5 times! My favorite teacher in high school was my woodshop teacher! If we screwed up he'd make an example out of us. He say, "You bought the freakin farm!"

The difference is in the diameter of those plugs.

Compression plugs work fine with aluminum steerers, as long as the diameter is correct (typically aluminum steer tube walls will be thinner than carbon counterparts) but it doesn't work the other way - you must not use a star-nut with a carbon steerer!

@@userkmunhwaock That was my assumption also. Now, I actually would group Al. and carbon on one side as "softer" and "easily scartchable" materials, while on the other side, Cromoly and titanium as harder materials. I would not use a star nut on anything else than steel and totally agree with the choice of compression nut for Al. parts, especially considering that the cones and sides (of the compression nut) are made of Al. themselves. As for the diameter part, these expand quite a lot, but it's irrelevant, as diameters are well standardized. Actually, I would use these on any fork and do not understand why star nuts are still put on any bike costing more than $200; it's probably $0.25 more profit.

@@AndreiNeacsu Star nuts have been used on aluminum steerer mtb forks for decades. Yeah, they're thick! They don't cause problems either. If you know what you're doing, you don't even need a star nut, top cap or bolt (all the time) not an expander plug with a metal steerer tube. Saves even more weight, haha. That stuff is just a temporary bearing tensioner. All these steerer headset problems start with marketing BS, weight weenies, ignorance and the suckers born every freakin minute...... People who pay more for less. It's quite ironic. Ive never seen the dreaded 'ring of death' other than on plastic steerer tubes. We find and replace plastic forks for this reason on a regular basis because some riders are ignorant clueless dummies. I wrench in a shop by the way. This is more common than replacing forks for crashes and freakin 'upgrades'. Don't know what that 'ring of death' is? Have a plastic steerer? Ask or find out and LEARN. It can be an unseen ticking time bomb OR It could save your life. This is no exaggeration. I'm dead serious.

This is the reason why I just recently on purpose cut my steerer too long :-) I don't want to find myself in the same situation few years down the road.

Delta is great and easily available. No easy solution for carbon steerers though - carbon is a lousy material for steerers, IMO.

Yup! I wrench in a shop. Ive wrenched on bikes for over 50 years. Ive witnessed the deevolution of bicycles, manufacturing and QC! The 'RING OF DEATH' is a regular reality. A ticking time bomb than can KILL!! If you don't know what it is,LEARN! LEARN to adjust and overhaul your headset, AT LEAST once a year. LEARN how to inspect your plastic fork steerer! Or take it to professionals. OR better yet, don't use a freakin plastic fork! This is NO JOKE! Carbon is not what marketing bullshitters make it out to be! If you were stupid enough to buy a bike with integrated or INFERNAL routing, haha, good freakin luck! Get ready to shell out cash! All this new crap is job security for me!!

Having said that, it's a small extension, so probably OK, but I'd still want some overlap between stem and clamping area of bung.

There’s no cause for concern with regards to clamping area as he’s using a machined aluminum extender. Aluminum steerers don’t use compression plugs. They use star fangled nuts. The sole purpose of the star fangled nut is to provide an anchor for the top cap bolt. The top cap is used to preload the headset bearings and remove play. It is only necessary for adjusting headset preload. Once that’s done, the cap/bolt/star nut are unnecessary. Carbon steerers use compression plugs instead of star nuts. But they serve the same main purpose. To provide an anchor for the top cap assembly when adjusting preload. SOME carbon steerers are not strong enough to withstand the the clamping forces of overtorqued stem bolts. And that is where compression plugs provide a secondary benefit. They do not stretch the steerer tube. They do provide additional support to avoid crushing the carbon fiber tube in cases of overtorqued stem bolts. This is why some manufacturers recommend specific compression plug designs and placement. Most manufacturers actually recommend a MINIMUM (Not max) of a 5mm spacer above the stem. Manufacturers do have a recommendation for max spacer height but that is for BELOW the stem.

This is only superficially true. The plug is in fact not an inherent design element of the headset. Just think about the sheering forces occurring when you pull the handlebar. At the places where the stem is going through the frame there aren't any internal expanders present. The forces during riding and pulling the handlebar which act's as a lever are huge compared to anything this kind of plug does to the stem. So if the stem can't handle almost arbitrary placement, the whole fork is not sufficiently strong in the first place. Squashing something twice will not help its internal structural integrity.

I was told this time and time again as an apprentice Toolmaker, now I tell every apprentice. It’s the only way as I’m sure Hambini and his hairdresser would agree.😂

This is the machinist's axiom. I worked on ultra exotic materials. Stuff made in only a couple places on the planet. Effing it up meant waiting months for new material and very pissed off customers. A fireable fuck up. We always measured 4or 5 times and proved out all our processes on cheap expendable materials.

Calling any part of this job "engineering" is hilarious to me.

FYI, the fork is separate from the frame. Cool story about almost doing something.

@@wzpu3283 it was an odd old-ish frameset. The fork was carbon fibre with 1” threadless tube

I once bought a used bike on ebay that had a fork with (steel) steerer tube extended with a welded-on section. The thing was perfectly straight and true so I put it together with the spacers that raised the (old-time quill) stem up around 40 mm and had no issues. I figured even if the steerer tube somehow snapped in-two it was unlikely to fail without any warning. With carbon...I'm not so sure.

Mechanically a stem pointing up is theoretically better. However since all parts at all angles and heights are designed to manage the loads anyway it's rather irrelevant. Decide based on aesthetics.

The plugs are longer too. So, they will be better than this

Is this a serious question? How much are you willing to compromise your well being? My boss took a bad landing in a DH race and snapped his 'heavy duty' carbon h'bar like a twig. Own up to your mistakes and learn from them. The costly mistakes often offer the best lessons. Just some old wisdom from someone who's made lots of mistakes. A few of them on trails. Seriously, don't compromise ANYTHING on a bike you use for going really fast. 'Most folk's' lives are worth more than that!

@@rollinrat4850 Well I do appreciate your input, and the fact that you seem to come from a genuine place if caring, so thank you. I actually have a full carbon frame on one of my DH bikes and it's pretty strong. And I also have a carbon Renthal bar too... I prefer aluminum though because I don't like the take of stem and teeth. I've been riding DH for almost 25 years now. I was riding yesterday, and every weekend this season. I've broken a few bones and snapped a few frames, all to say I've made mistakes of my own. I've also raced with a 1999 Boxxer fork with a cracked brake arch, hit drops on a cracked GT LOBO and still send big jumps and drops on my cracked Santa Cruz Super 8. That's all to demonstrate my level of stupidity. Clearly, I'm not the brightest. But this thing is pretty cool, and it seems like it could work on my Avalanche front fork. Downhill forks are not as reliant on steerer tube strength as single crowns because the dual crowns can hold the steerer in place. And I can use my Da Bomb head lock to sandwich everything in place thru the steerer tube without even using a headset star nut.

@@DHFlip18 I suppose that's a good point. We don't work on or sell many DH bikes. Just trail and enduro. Yet.....the cost of new uppers/crown/steerer will never come close to the cost of dental bills or far, far worse. Take care of yourself! Life is short, even when you're young and can 'never die'. Carbon mtb stuff, especially DH is pretty overbuilt, probably for a good reason! Stupid light plastic road junk, (intended for racing) is a whole different kettle of fish. We banned weight weenies from our big death rides. They always break down and cut em short. I'm often the only real mechanic on such rides.... The one and only carbon frame Id ever ride (that I could afford) would be a Santa Cruz. We're a dealer and Ive wrenched on hundreds of their bikes. Rarely see breakage, warranties or issues on Santa Cruz. Great company, great service. Another buddy broke the aluminum swing arm on his Nomad after riding like a maniac for almost ten years. They gave him an entire new frame! Still, I use metal bars, even for techy XC/marathon, CX,gravel, road and huge bikepacking adventures. I'm surprised we don't see more Ti bars anymore. Metal generally just bends or cracks when it begins to fail. Its probably fair to add the guy who broke his h'bars is young and crazy on a bicycle. He rides with a pro DHer and loves huge air. He's accustomed to dirt bikes like many of the really fast DHers I know. Personally, I'm older and half retired. I have a family, own a business and a home. Crashing these days takes much longer to recover from. My thing has always been underbiking, fixed gears offroad, ultra long dirt rides, climbing most of the day, slower trialsy trails and dirt rando rides. Almost forty years ago I raced on the road.

He's not going to do that on a customer's bike. What Hambini made is already available by various manufacturers. It isn't a new idea.

Some idiots believe form>function. Some think it's just so cool, when nobody really gives a shit. Yet far fewer will ever even enter a race where it might offer a little benefit in a breakaway. Practicality is for bike nerds like us! It's known as (not so) common sense.

Exactly. And IMO it actually looks better

Are they going to work on a carbon tube?

How much plastic junk have you replaced when idiot consumers over tightened stems, brake levers and shifters? How many plastic forks have you replaced? It amazes me, yet heres job security for us!! I had a kid come into my shop, claimed his friend borrowed his bike and oiled his rotors because they were so squeaky! Ive seen similar more than once! Natural selection, survival of the fittest and the 'Darwin Awards' are reality!! As Ebenezer Scrooge once said, "Decrease the surplus population!" I might also argue that de-evolution is in full swing!

so it has to be tight fit/ press fit?

@@NeoPayneHK Slip fit

I've seen a study done into reinforcing steerer tubes, the issue with solid insert is what people don't see is that under braking the steerer tube actually bows a little, so if you then add a solid metal insert the bottom edge acts as a stress raiser and move the point it bows at lower down the steerer, this could lead to premature failure, the out come of the tests was that Cervelo's method of bonding a tube in for a star flange nut was okay as long as it's not to long, and Campagnolo extra long expander were the best way add strength to the steerer tubes.

What he made is available for sale by various companies. VeloBike makes one. The expanders are longer on the commercially available ones and so actually better.

@@DaveCM I ended up ordering the velobike one, I just thought it was too much $ for what it is. Doesn't help that its for a frameset that I'm more likely just going to sell rather than ride (didn't want to sell it in the state it was like someone did to me). I guess I will just have to ask an extra $100 to cover the piece!

Crush is only when the external force exceeds the internal force. I always use the same torques on the plug and the clamp to reduce risk compression deformation of the steerer.

Surprised it wasn't bonded as well. Can't see any need to be removable unless I'm missing something?

I've been looking at wheel hubs for a while, that might be the next one.

@@Hambini ooo interesting. "Hubini"

velobike

Velobike, they specialise in track components 😊

Avoid operating any vehicle. Stay in bed. Don't leave your home. For everyone's sake!

If you contact me on support@hambini.com I can probably machine you one up.

I don't but you can get the drawings and a link to the bits from the linked webpage. It's in the description

Just bond it to the freakin fork crown. You simply can't make something idiot proof for an idiot.

really, do send a link

@@Hambini Warning on page 10 of the Synapse Manual. Looks like the top cap has a built in spacer though. www.cannondale.com/-/media/files/manual-uploads/manuals/oms%20cd%20bk%20rd%20synapse%20disc%20en%20r1%20134911.pdf

For instance: www.cannondale.com/-/media/files/manual-uploads/manuals/2011_webOMS_127398_SuperX_EN.pdf Page 10 "Assemble the fork, headset, spacers, and stem without tightening the stem bolts onto the head tube. When the system is assembled, the carbon steerer tube should be 2-3 mm below the top stem. All spacers must be located below the stem and within the maximum stack height as shown. No spacers may be used above the stem."

I can go on, but I think my point is pretty clear :)

@@vromaka Cannondale's are a bit unusual though. They use this SI compression assembly where the top cap threads onto the expander and you install both at the same time, plus the top cap has an outer sleeve that reinforces the steerer tube where it is clamped by the stem bolt. So you can't put a spacer under the top cap anyway. In any case I wanted a custom top cap so replaced the Cannondale assembly with a much longer pro compression plug which provides much better support to the steerer tube. That allowed me to use my custom top cap and as I have not cut my steerer yet have a couple spacers under the top cap with no issue.