ilovecycling

Hey guys,

So I've been trying to get this sorted out since I picked up my NOS 2009 CAAD9-7 frameset a few weeks ago. It has a Premium Plus carbon fork and there was already a star nut installed in the cut down steerer. I'm having trouble identifying which reinforcing top cap and star nut assembly I'm supposed to be using. I found some good info and charts in the following Cannondale supplement PDFs, but it only goes up to 2007 forks and mine is a 2009. To make things more confusing, Cannondale supposedly stopped using star nuts and went to expanding compression plugs around 2008. Not sure why mine has a star nut if that is the case. The inside of my steerer tube has a gray-colored nylon lining which is clearly there to allow the use of a star nut by not allowing it to harm the carbon fibers once the stem is clamped down. I have a pic of my steerer tube below for reference.

I would very much appreciate any info or advice you have on how to identify the correct assembly to use. I'm thinking I need to measure the I.D. of the steerer and go from there based on the chart info in the PDF. For example, if the I.D. is 23.6mm it's probably safe to assume I can go with a #KF095 compression assembly. Again, this is according to the chart info in the PDF below.

What do you guys think?

https://cdn.cannondale.com/Manuals/20...echnote_en.pdf

https://cdn.cannondale.com/Manuals/20...plement_en.pdf

fietsbob

gaak! that is the wrong place to use a star nut,
drill it out and get the right part
carbon steerers should Never use the same piece
as you would whack into a metal steerer.

[or is that a thin layer of aluminum in there?]

being carbon, it may already be damaged.
and of questionable safety.

ilovecycling

Thanks for playing, but you might want to try reading a bit closer next time. Cannondale goes against the rules (or at least they used to) and gets away with it by using a nylon sleeve inside the steerer to protect the carbon fibers from getting damaged by the star nut. If you click on the first PDF link you will see they clearly used star nuts in carbon steerers.

bradtx

ilovecycling, Just because it's a carbon steerer I'd choose the longer cap/expansion plug assy. of the correct diameter. You'll have to drive the star nut deeper into the tube for clearance, of course.

Brad