Was adjusting my stem and noticed this inside my steerer tube. The bike is fairly new so I never looked too closely at it before. Is this flaking normal? It starts right where the steerer enters the head tube. The outside of the steerer looks fine, no damage is visible. Thought it may possibly have been a remnant of the manufacturing/installation process, but I wanted to check here for peace of mind.
lionreza on
its fine its just a left over material from manufacturing. removing it would add a unnecessary production operation
tommyhateseveryone on
Left over from manufacturing. They cleaned up the part of the tube that needs to have a compression plug in it and left the rest because why bother. I would reckon it’s not even carbon but a thin sheath of fiberglass around the inside. Fiberglass is easier to bore than carbon so this is the reason many manufacturers use it inside the steerer. On the indents from the compression plug: it’s fine. The material will show any light abrasion. There is no evidence of cracking or delamination. Carbon steer tubes are over engineered, and I promise you if there was a crack on that bare carbon, there would be very little question about it. Use a torque wrench on the plug and stem, and respect the position of the plug. The number 1 way carbon steer tubes break is because inadequate support from the compression plug on the pinch bolt area.
3 Comments
Was adjusting my stem and noticed this inside my steerer tube. The bike is fairly new so I never looked too closely at it before. Is this flaking normal? It starts right where the steerer enters the head tube. The outside of the steerer looks fine, no damage is visible. Thought it may possibly have been a remnant of the manufacturing/installation process, but I wanted to check here for peace of mind.
its fine its just a left over material from manufacturing. removing it would add a unnecessary production operation
Left over from manufacturing. They cleaned up the part of the tube that needs to have a compression plug in it and left the rest because why bother. I would reckon it’s not even carbon but a thin sheath of fiberglass around the inside. Fiberglass is easier to bore than carbon so this is the reason many manufacturers use it inside the steerer. On the indents from the compression plug: it’s fine. The material will show any light abrasion. There is no evidence of cracking or delamination. Carbon steer tubes are over engineered, and I promise you if there was a crack on that bare carbon, there would be very little question about it. Use a torque wrench on the plug and stem, and respect the position of the plug. The number 1 way carbon steer tubes break is because inadequate support from the compression plug on the pinch bolt area.