Bought a brand new bike off bike exchange from an out of state shop. Noticed the carbon steerer has some delamination near where the steerer was cut down. Appears to be just the outermost layer. Is the steerer trash?
I’d say no, looks like a clamp got it.
Can you cut further?
I would like to not cut it further because i will need as many spacers as possible given my porportions/flexability.
Almost impossible to evaluate from a picture….is the suspect area above the clamp area of the stem?
It probably can be with one or two spacers above the stem.
Looks like damage from a clamp/guide for cutting the tube, or a stem yanked out a little too tight?
It’s not gouged (kind of looks like that in the photo). It’s more flaking in that spot with a very thin layer.
Top of the steerer is a low stress point. Doesn’t have much leverage acting against it.
Plus, it appears to have a typical steerer tube plug for carbon steerers (in lieu of a traditional star nut). So the carbon is essentially sandwiched between the stem and the plug when everything’s installed.
Chances of catastrophic failure are low to zero, I would say. The bad hacksaw job would annoy me, but I wouldn’t scrap it.
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I would have a shop evaluate it, honestly.
That said, if the stem is below that area, and you use a longer expander inside, there is very low risk of failure, IMO. The clamping forces are below it and the compression forces from the top cap are distributed around the entire circumference of the steerer tube.
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