Originally Posted by
merziac
[MENTION=544031]Pantah[/MENTION]
That stem was not in far enough, the whole expander must be below the threads.
Aluminum fork, steel steerer, vibratory mismatch in the long run?
Did you start riding this more, harder than PO?
Also, a wire wheel on a bench grinder makes very short work of rust, paint and PC, 50 or 100 grit sandpaper to start then let er rip.
Not to be rude but I did cover that, pretty extensively too. As soon as I came to a stop and pulled the handlebars and stem up and out of the frame on the side of the road, I knew what the point of failure was. I know it's a long post but part of why it's long is going over why that was a problem and how I got into this situation.
Resonate frequency of steel vs. aluminum is something I can confidently say wasn't a factor.
I'm riding it equally hard as the previous owner. He put a LOT of miles on it doing some of the San Francisco Bay Area's most famous routes and climbs, such as Mount Diablo, on a regular basis. He was also an inch or so taller than me and a tad heavier. He was fast and strong. The kind of use it's getting isn't really any different.
I have those tools but I was doing it by hand as I was trying to keep a clean line on my freshly painted stem, which I have found to be easier by hand. However, to get it ground down the rest of the way, I'm going to use power tools. Far as keeping a clean line on the paint, I'll figure something out.