Originally Posted by
seypat
Could be a stuck stem gone bad. Heat applied to the head tube and the stem wouldn't budge. Look at the black crud on both headset ends. Might be burned grease/lube. That's a shame.
Heating up a head tube to remove a stuck stem is just plain dumb for many reasons, one is which the stem is stuck in the steerer tube, not the head tube. Heat transfer from head tube to steerer would be extremely poor as there is an air gap between them.
It's possible some idjit tried this, but highly doubtful compared to other explanations.