See my photo below. I overtightened the stem to 10nm last summer and slightly deformed the steerer tube. It only seems to be the top few millimeters that are deformed. You can see the two areas circled in blue. I was tempted to chop off the top of the steerer tube, but its already a bit short.

Is this thing okay to ride?

http://www.fastortho.com/wmg/stem.jpg

and this picture from the top:

http://www.fastortho.com/wmg/stem2.jpg

My advice is to pull the stem off the steer tube an inspect the rest of the clamping area. If it is in anyway cracked or deformed stop riding this immediately and replace the fork. If not, then you are probably good to go.

My assumption is that the steer tube is alloy. If it is steel, my advice still applies but is somewhat less emphatic.

If you do end up replacing the fork, my advice is to cut it so you can keep a 5 mm spacer above the stem at your desired height. This has the net effect of providing a more solid clamping area for the stem.

+1 on cutting above the stem.

FYI, full carbon forks are pretty reasonable on ebay - I just picked up a two year old TCR frame with a Bianchi full carbon team Liquigas fork for $144 shipped.

Then again, I probably wouldn't mind riding that fork myself, maybe check it for cracks once in a while.



and buy a torque wrench for ****s sakes...

My advice is to pull the stem off the steer tube an inspect the rest of the clamping area. If it is in anyway cracked or deformed stop riding this immediately and replace the fork. If not, then you are probably good to go.

+1
If there are no other cracks or substantial damage, the deformity in the pics looks like it would not lead to catastrophic failure. If the stem holds fast at the prescribed torque you should be fine.

I actually used a torque wrench... unfortunately, the stem had "10nm" written by the bolts so that is what I went with..

I actually used a torque wrench... unfortunately, the stem had "10nm" written by the bolts so that is what I went with..

...taught me to NEVER use torque wrenches. It's far safer to use experience and "feel" when wrenching.

Bummer what happened to your fork. Hopefully it hasn't finished it off for good.

I have to smile about the recommendation of keeping a 5mm spacer above the stem. It's far simpler to just never over tighten the stem on the steerer. Your example of using a torque wrench and the resulting damage is exactly why I never use one.

Take a dial bore gauge, and tell me how much runout you have there.......

if it were me, I wouldn't worry about that... are you sure that overtightening the stem did that?