So can I ride this thing a little bit without the insert glued in? Just wanna make sure before I hack off the steerer and permanently commit with it. Do I need to put a compression plug in it while I figure it out or will it be OK with nothing?
3T spells it out for you on their website under tech documents.
maybe I am dense but I am missing it on the site. It is “thenew3t.com” correct?
Glue it in. There have been some failures of this fork (in the past) - even with it glued in. They also sorta dont point out that it should be glued in with the center of the shim right at the load area of the headet on the top - so, it should be right where your upper bearing race contacts the outside of your steer tube.
There have been some failures of this fork (in the past) - even with it glued in.
I hadn’t heard this before. I’ve googled for any info on any 3T fork failures and can’t find anything. Where did you get this information? Can you elaborate?
My bad, that was the Wolf (or AlphaQ) - with the same design and similar sidewall thickness of the steer tube.
Regardless, I’ve built up two bikes with the 3T fork and, while they say it’s OK to use a compression plug, the insert is quite easy to use and adds peace of mind. I agree with you that it should be used.
To the OP … I’m sure you’ll be fine trying it out with a compression plug. But when you’re done trying it out and decide, “wow … this is a really great fork” (which I’m sure you will), go back and do the final installation with the insert.
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You will be more than fine installing the fork without the insert. I have been riding my forks with just a Tune Gum Gum compression device with no issues at all. 3T says it is fine to use a standard compression device.
We have compression plugs in almost all the 3T forks of the bikes built up on the floor. It gives us some flexibility for customers to take test rides on the bikes and then we can cut the fork down and epoxy the insert in place once they know how low they want to be.
The details which aren’t published on the 3T website or in the instructions are that they recommend a max height of the steerer tube above the head tube of 8 cm which is the length of the insert. It would be better if the insert goes 1 cm down into the head tube though.
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the fitting destructions say that the fork can be used witha compression plug as an alternative, but the fork will not have the same resistance to stem crushing it. 3T fork is very different to the True Temper wolf SL which had some failures due mostly to the steerer becoming laterally scored.
No problem to ride with compression plug: as others mentioned below to determine final steerer length.
http://www.cervelo.com/reviews/3T%20Fork_instruction.pdf
The Wolf Fork may appear to be similar in construction, but the dimensions are different from the 3T. IIRC the steerer tube tapers more in the transition to the fork crown. The 3T steerer wall thickness is definitely larger and there is an addition of a few plies of fiber glass on the ID of the 3T, possibly to act as an insulator for the Al insert.
As far as maximum steerer height is concerned:
http://forums.cervelo.com/forums/p/1339/7293.aspx#7293
It seems like 90mm over the top of the head tube is acceptable. This is consistent with information found in another thread where the 75mm insert is not required to go beyond the 15mm “volcano” top cover.
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George