long steerer - to cut or not to cut?

[Yog Sothoth]

Assembling a 'new' bike; the threaded steerer projects about 20mm above the headset lock ring. I'm undecided whether to insert some spacers (under the lockring?) or to cut the steerer down. The latter seems a bit...final, but I'm not sure whether spacers would A.work and B.look right. What does Retrobike think? Must be a common dilemma.

 

[jimo746]

try the spacers, see how it looks?

 

[Whatleymeister]

I say leave it as is. 20mm isnt a lot of excess as long it can be spaced out ok in the headset. The fork then has a bigger market of people who also ride bigger frames (as well as the same size and smaller) than you that can possibly make use of it, thus increasing its value not just in £'s but also in usability.

For instance, my saracen in my signature is running, though reasonably well disguised, a full length uncut steerer on the Rebas. thats about 260mm more or less. Sure, cutting it would make it look tidier perhaps, but us chaps who have to ride gates will thank you for leaving a steerer longer

My two pence worth.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Try with spacers. See how it feels. Try it with spacers above, spacers below, up a bit , down a shade, until it feels just right, then cut the steerer. spacers above (more than 5mm) look cack.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Swap it for a shorter one, letting that person who needs 20mm have some joy.

 

[highlandsflyer]

If it is a long steerer you could go ahead and trim it.

If it is not, or you just want to leave flexibility for future use how about shoving a larger stack headset and stem on if you don't like the look of the spacers?

 

[Rampage]

Assembling a 'new' bike; the threaded steerer projects about 20mm above the headset lock ring. I'm undecided whether to insert some spacers (under the lockring?) or to cut the steerer down. The latter seems a bit...final, but I'm not sure whether spacers would A.work and B.look right. What does Retrobike think? Must be a common dilemma.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Assembling a 'new' bike; the threaded steerer projects about 20mm above the headset lock ring. I'm undecided whether to insert some spacers (under the lockring?) or to cut the steerer down. The latter seems a bit...final, but I'm not sure whether spacers would A.work and B.look right. What does Retrobike think? Must be a common dilemma.

? You can still use spacers under the top lock ring as the OP mentions, it does tend to look shite though, hence swap it for a shorter one if possible. Some people really do need that 20mm extra.
But what steerer is it ?

Of course Rigid forks are a bit harder to swap, for some reason I assumed suspension, even some of them are.
In that case, chop it and be done. Do it properly The only headsets that can get away with it are chrome finished ones on utility/hybrid bikes

(EDIT though reading some post, I see some hadn't noticed)

 

[Rampage]

I got the impression most of the replies (not all) were talking about unthreaded!

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Yes, it's a threaded, rigid fork. I can't swap the steerer and would have to buy some spacers but I'm not sure how well spacers work and whether they'll look shite, on a threaded headset and quill stem set-up.