Originally Posted by
LP-NZ
I am usually pretty cautious about riding damaged parts for fear of catastrophic failures. However, I have recently purchased a used early 80's sarroni, and while giving it a bit of a pre-ride check over (after I had got it home) I realised that the previous owner had overtightened the stem (on a number of occasions by the looks of it), with the result being a number of concentric bulges in the steerer tube. Is this type of damage safe to ride on? Logically I doubt that this is likely to weeken the steerer that much, but it goes against the grain a bit to ride on a damaged fork. I guess I could always try and find a replacement, but part of the attraction of the frame was that it had the original fork.
Any advice would be gratefully recieved.
You should keep your eye on it because the steerer could split, especially if the bulging is in the threaded area, causing the stem to come loose and then, well, you don't need me to describe the rest. Whether it is safe or not is entirely up to your judgement based on your observations. You may also find it difficult to remove the fork crown race if that is ever necesssary.
A new steerer can be brazed in by a frame builder, and the fork could be chromed, which would be period correct for this bike.