Cervelo does it directly from the factory and yes it's extremely annoying

The glued in insert is 7cm long
by making a couple of cuts you can reduce it to about half.
first thread in the star nut bolt a few turns
then tap it down the insert a couple cm
cut above the star nut
repeat one more time
this will about 3.5cm enough grip to adjust the headset

them come to the dealers unglued

Is there an advantage to the glued in sleeve as opposed to a standard one?

No, the dealer does it and it is deemed necessary/better by Cervelo vs. A standard compression plug.

If that's true and it probably is my shop lied to Me. Not the first time!

Perhaps ok depending on shop.

Expander is much safer, if you are looking at typical skill set of employees etc.

Maurice,

The alloy sleeve/star nut assembly has been standard for Cervelo for close to 10 years now. On my P2C (which is 8 years old) the sleeve was glued in before the fork was cut. When I cut the fork I just tapped the star nut further down the steerer, then cut through both the carbon steerer and alloy sleeve.

A compression plug is an option per Cervelo but personally I wouldn't be attempting to remove an already glued sleeve as it's possible you'll damage the frame:
Cervélo recommends the use of the supplied alloy insert sleeve and pre-installed star nut to preload the headset. The use of a compression plug (not provided) in place of the insert sleeve is permitted, but this substitution will not provide the same resistance to clamping damage due to over-tightening of the stem.

This is what I did on my P3C. When I initially had the insert bonded in by my local cervelo dealer I asked them to insert it where it will still support the carbon steerer if I decided to slam the stem. Which I did.

Ahh... The good ol' inert; Cervelo's answer to a fork recall 10+ years ago.


The glued in insert is supposed to structurally support the fork steer tube above the headset to it's maximum height. The insert is 7-8cm because that is the max height that a stem should be placed to maintain adequate structural support of the steer tube.

Now, if you want to go lower, you can simply cut the steer tube (with the glued in insert) down as desired. You don't have to remove the insert and re-glue it to the new height. There is no benefit to having the insert stuck in below the upper headset.

So, get out a nice grit-blade saw and cut both the carbon tube and aluminum insert as one.

Hacksaw job it is then! Thanks for all the tips

My experience:

Bught a used cervelo with the steerer sleeve glued in. Wanted to get lower, so cut a little bit off the steerer tube (with alu sleeve inside) with a hacksaw. No issues with this, but I wanted to get lower still, so I tried to knock the star nut down a little more by putting in a bolt and tapping it with a hammer. When I did this it actually broke the glue bond between the sleeve and steerer, so was then able to remove the sleeve. Not sure this was the best option, but the steerer tube was apparently undamaged so I just inserted a standard compression plug and carried on...

It is possible to remove the glued in insert. You can buy new insert kits to install a new one. This procedure is not for the faint of heart but I have done this successfully several times. Essentially you use spacers and keep tightening the center preload bolt to pull the insert out and break the glue bond. Every time I've done this, the insert comes out clean with no damage to the steerer tube other than needing to lightly sand off remaining glue deposits from the inside surface.

What blade did you use on the hacksaw to do this? I have both the standard blade that comes with Park Tool's saw and the blade intended for use on carbon.

I just use a standard hacksaw with 32tpi blade. I always try to use a brand new blade if I am cutting any important carbon part - carbon dulls the edge pretty quickly.