Replacing Manitou steerer tube - help/advice needed

[regan_ev]

Re: Re:

I was facing the same dilemma with a Rockshox fork for my Brodie build, and everybody I talked to - including Paul (Brodie) himself - advised highly against doing such things. Something about the R/S crown being a friction/heat fit that makes them highly susceptible to damage upon pressing. Some suggestions were to bake the whole thing to about four hundred degrees, and then quickly dry-ice freeze the steerer tube to shrink it and presto - it "should then just slip right out" ... but apparently that wasn't a good idea either, as it would change the end properties (soften) of the aluminum crown material.

All the advise was to keep searching for an oem steerer/crown unit in the right configuration, as they do come up from timetotime. Not wanting to wait for ever, I ended up buying an 'Ultimate' CNC'd aftermarket crown and pressing a new steerer into that, which worked like a charm (had access to a fully equipped shop and an expert machinist) ... and then, right after that, a proper Rockshox crown with a long enough 1" steerer fell into my world anyway, thanks to a connection made through 'Redgunner' on this forum.

I am curious to see how you make out with this 'pressing' endeavor (pun intended) .. and good luck!

That's good info, thanks. I appreciate that the annealing effect of heating the crown wouldn't be a good idea and it's certainly not something I'd ever consider if that was the only option available, which hopefully it isn't with the Manitou setup.

There's a couple on eBay (NOS Manitou 2) but also not long enough.

I can hold on, no real rush, but if I can get the steerer replaced, I'll buy a titanium one from the German seller that advertises them.

Whatever I decide I'll update the thread whenever it happens. Thanks again.