new steerer on old fork?

[jgedwa]

I am having a very hard time finding a fork to fit my tall-framed older Bridgestone XO-1 frame. Hard to find a fork that is for 26" wheels, has road brakes, and has a loooong 1" steerer (at least 9.25"). It is a nice enough frame that I do not mind putting some effort and money into the right fork for it.

I have not given up on finding the right one, but it is looking difficult.

In the case I cannot find one, is it a crazy idea to have a framemaker replace a shorter steerer on an otherwise correct fork with a longer one? Would it be strong enough? What might it cost me? Anything else I should be worried about in the operation?

thanks,

jim

[Six jours]

It takes a lot of heat to put together a steerer/crown. If it was originally brazed with silver, it is possible to heat it up and remove the steerer, but you also run the chance of damaging the connection between the blades and the crown. If brass brazed -- the likely scenario -- it actually takes more heat to remove it than it took to put it together in the first place. That much heat might cause problems down the road, and you still have the problem of possibly weakening the connection between blades and crown.

A safer solution all around is to cut the steerer tube off short and then drill/ream the rest out of the crown. This would still be a bit of a PITA and could well end up costing more than simply having a new fork made up from scratch. Short version: I think you'd be better off having your local framebuilder put you together a new fork.

[jgedwa]

What about chopping the steerer in half and joining a longer end on? I suppose with a sleeve on the inside. I know nothing about machining and welding, so maybe that is just not doable. Maybe the problem would be getting a perfectly straight steerer out of the concoction.

jim

[maddog17]

what about emailing Rivendell and seeing if they can help you out.

[jgedwa]

Did it. They could not. jim

[Peterpan1]

It is certainly doable. If the original stem was internal then your sleeve could interfer with the stem depending on the details. With a threadless, you could design the sleeve to be the internal nut, and anyway you don't have the same problems. Slightly complicated by the fact those tubes are butted.

This is a relatively simple splice but it isn't normal business for a framemaker, not too different from instalation of SS splices, which is expensive.

I would call Spicer and get him to search options, there are a lot of forks out there.

[thatcher]

What about chopping the steerer in half and joining a longer end on? I suppose with a sleeve on the inside. I know nothing about machining and welding, so maybe that is just not doable. Maybe the problem would be getting a perfectly straight steerer out of the concoction.

jim

i have done this. be very carefull. it works though. have a frame builder do it.