Originally Posted by
cudak888
Cut the stem off to drop the fork. Invert fork steerer in tub of nasty-nasty lye. Stem gets eaten up.
I'd highly suggest doing a mechanically pleasing build on this first and riding it. Never commit to a paint job until you know the bike rides well...
-Kurt
Had a good think and decided to take the easy route, with the littlest chance of breaking important stuff or twisting the fork blades all out of alignment.
So today I got the drain cleaner, the goggles, the rubber gloves and the recipe for
Swedish Mojitos.
First order of business was to remove the upper part of the stem. Turns out sawing it out wasn't really a viable option anyway. Death stems? Not Gerry's:
About the build: I'm still in two minds about that. I agree with you reasoning, but I'll be doing the paintwork myself anyway, so maybe $40 worth of paint and a couple of days of my time, which is not like I'm robbing my pension fund. And I would like it to be finished and tested before a planned week of cycling in Italy in September ....
Perhaps the Mojitos will help in making that decision as well.
