Some context – bought a Canyon Ultimate CF SL frame to build up and took it for my first ride last weekend to check it out post build. Rode brilliantly, but the last 5 miles I was getting a little knocking noise that I couldn't quite identify.
After getting it up on the stand, I noticed a bit of play in the cockpit, so undid the stem to take a look. Pretty horrified to see a carbon sleeve almost come off with the headset, fragments of carbon, and what looks like a split in the steerer tube. It looks like some sort of botched repair to me.
Anyone shed any light of what happened here? My current theory is surrounding the star nut – I'm no Canyon expert but the acros AI70 headset gets preload from the base clamp, not the star nut, and someone has inserted one here. Is it likely they tried to install the star nut and split the steerer tube then tried to repair?
One other thing I noticed – the carbon spacers, whilst the correct 1 1/4" size, were super tight on the steering when I fitted them, so much so, I had to gently sand the insides to get them on. This suggests some repair has possibly occured and widened the steerer tube at that point, or this is from the incorrect star nut insertion.
Perhaps it's something I didn't while building/installing but something feels fishy about it all…
by archibaldflibble
2 Comments
Was the frame/fork used when you bought it?
This is scary bad. You need a new fork. If you bought it used, I’d be concerned about other hack repairs the previous owner did. I’d bring it to a bike shop for a full inspection.