I decided to lower my handlebars, and, since I like my bike to look perfect, I needed to cut some excess steer tube. Here’s a step-by-step guide: click on any of the photos to look at a larger version
Tools: allen keys (for me, it was a 4, 5, and 8mm), saw guide, hacksaw, vice (you can do it without the vice, but it’s harder), and a grease rag or paper towel.
Before:
1. Remove the top cap and any spacers from above the stem
2. Loosen the stem bolts on the steer tube
3. Remove the inner cap that’s screwed into the compression fitting inside the steer tube
4. Mark the steer tube just above the stem with a bright color (needs to be bright enough that you can see the line when you put it in the saw guide).
5. Remove the brake from the fork and your computer sensor (if it’s a wired system)
6. Remove the fork from the headtube. You’ll have two headset bearings- one on top, and one on the bottom. Place them (and the parts that go with them) on your greaserag in the order that you took them off.
7. Put the steer tube into the saw guide- you’ll want the line you made to be just above the saw guide slot so that you’re cutting it almost a millimeter shorter than you marked (this is so that the steer tube/fitting will end up just below the top of the stem when re-assembled).
8. Clamp the saw guide/fork into a vice
9. Saw!
10. The compression fitting in my steer tube needed to be adjusted as well (sorry, no pic). I used a hammer and a deep 5/8″ socket to press it down further into the steer tube so that the edge of the top fitting would sit flush with the new cut.
11. Re-assemble in the reverse order (aren’t you glad you laid those headset bearings out in order?)
12. Perfection!
