15minprior

The cheapest available option is the sub $20 Nashbar guide and the next one up is the Park Tools guide at around $40.

Instead of hacking up an old stem as recommended by others, use a hose clamp instead.

HillRider

That's not exactly a new concept. Using a hose clamp as a cutting guide for steerers has been a common recommendation for decades.

15minprior

Rgr, I didn't think I had invented this method. I simply couldn't find any information on alternatives, mods please delete if this is redundant.

TimothyH

To each his own but how did you keep the bike from swaying back and forth or the whole stand from moving as you cut? Or was that not a problem?

Spending $20 on the Nashbar tool was worth it to me.




-Tim-

hermanchauw

Use a tubing cutter. You get a square cut everytime. No need stand also. Just need to finish the end a little bit.

HillRider

You can't cut a carbon steerer with a tubing cutter.

I used the hose clamp method before I got my Nashbar/Performance cutting guide ($14 on sale when I bought it). I removed the fork from the bike, laid it on my workbench and cut it using a fine tooth hacksaw and working around the edge of the hose clamp rotating the fork as I cut. Worked fine and was no problem getting a clean, neat cut. The guide is an improvement however.

Kapusta

This is what I've done for ever.

Never had a carbon steer tube, though.

nfmisso

Let alone a cro-mo or 531 steerer tub - they'll just bend the edge of the tubing cutter's wheel(s).

FBinNY 

I have no idea how the whole tubing cutter idea got started and took hold. For over a century everyone was successfully cutting forks with a hacksaw, and dressing the edge with a file.

I suspect that once forks went threadless, it created the possibility of getting "smart". This is also because external stems don't have an issue with the big burr created when cut edge is rolled inward.

However "smart" folks who don't like primitive tools like hacksaws continue to outsmart themselves, and we already have had a few threads about CF steerers damaged when cut with fancy tools.

Ball Bearing

I get perfect cuts using a metal cut off saw.

xiaoman1 

Op, No need to ask mods to remove the post...I am sure not everyone knows about the old school way to do this...sometimes we forget that old news needs to be revisited. Keep posting.
Regards, Ben

Phloom

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/cat...sc&pageSize=96

Why not just simple tubing cutter. I use it on all my metal steering tubes. Actually, I never had a carbon steering tube so I know nothing aboot them, eh.

dabac

Depends on the quality of the tubing cutter.


Some are only made to cut copper, and will quickly blunt or break on steel. Others have no problem with any bicycle-grade steel.


And yeah, I have one of each...

dabac

My scope isn't limited to bicycles. I'd cut any number of tubes before I cut my first steerer tube.
To me it was a tube first and foremost, and a steerer after that. So I used what I generally use to cut tubes.


A slight advantage IMO is that with a tube cutter you can be very lax about clamping the fork, and still get a nicely perpendicular cut. I wouldn't like trying to hacksaw a tube with precision w/o the ability to clamp it well.



I wouldn't buy a pipe cutter specifically for cutting steerer tubes. If a hacksaw is what's available, that's what I'll use. But when I have both, I'll reach for the cutter.



Tube cutters might not let you get away from the file entirely either.
There's usually a bit of a raised ridge outwards too that can interfere with fitting the top headset race and/or the stem.
And the internal burr makes inserting the starnut a little harder.

15minprior

The hose clamp was $0.98 each, I bought two of them (one for the guide and the other to keep the fork in place).

The bike is equipped with disc brakes and internally routed through the fork, I was lazy to remove it. I had someone lend a hand with securing the bike while I used a normal fine hacksaw to cut away. The cut was straight and clean using the clamp, I just added a bevel to the OD and ID with a diamond file.

It took about 5 minutes and overall cost (if I were to buy the saw, clamps, and diamond files) would be below $15.

Rowan

I know it's professional to have a perfect right-angled cut, but really, is it essential on threadless steerers? I mean, so long as the steerer is cut to ensure the top cap still has space under it when tightened, does it have to be perfect? I am thinking not.

Also, if you do use a hacksaw, make sure it is the best quality you can afford. The stiffer the frame, the tighter you can tension the blade, so it stays straight on the cut. Then with CF, as high a number of teeth in the blade as you can find.

Plumber's pipe cutters aren't much use. They are suited to copper pipe which has a thinner wall than a steel or aluminium steerer. They are, however, good for marking around the circumference for a hacksaw cut.

hueyhoolihan

TimothyH

A perfect right angle cut steerer is not essential but that is what I aim for to the extent that it is possible. I hit 50.3 MPH on my road bike this weekend. The correct cutting tool and a $15 guide doesn't seem like much to me.

Probably more important than a perfect right angle is to cut it smoothly so that stress risers don't develop (steel and aluminum) and to ensure that carbon doesn't splinter and start cracking. Smoothing out burrs and rough edges also helps.

gregf83 

I just drilled a hole in a block of wood, split it and then clamped it on the tube. I think eye-balling would be fine as well if you're reasonably coordinated.

SquidPuppet

This will go right through ANY metal steerer. Like butter. Straight. Easy and fast. These will cut chrome plated handlebars as if they were a garden hose. I've done it many times.

HillRider

That's not a tubing cutter, that's a pipe cutter. A much stronger and more capable tool. Also a lot bigger, heavier and more expensive.

corrado33

You guys are nuts. I cut my steerers freehand with a hacksaw and file it relatively flat. There is absolutely no reason for it to be perfectly flat, provided the high spots don't interfere with the stem cap and headset adjustment. There is NO danger from having an imperfect steerer tube cut on a threadless headset.

Seriously, stop thinking, go freaking ride.

SquidPuppet

Rowan said a plumber's PIPE cutter wouldn't do the job. It will.

A plumber's PIPE cutter isn't for thin walled copper only. Sometimes plumbers have to cut large diameter thick wall cast iron pipe and other materials as well.

I'm not sure what your point is. Pipe cutters (like pipe) come in different sizes and weights. One capable of cutting 1-1/8" OD pipe doesn't need to be very big.

Expensive? This one is suitable for steel pipe up to 1-1/8" OD. $5.83 at Amazon and it includes a de-burring tool. A BIG one like above can be had for under $20.00.

nfmisso

How about a link to the item details for those of us crazy enough to want one?

SquidPuppet

This is the best match that I can find for the one that's been in my garage for decades. Shop around though. You can find them ranging from dirt cheap to crazy expensive.






Superior Tools - Pipe Cutters

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbin...4444237097.htm