Bleriot steerer tubes butted or not?

[lungimsam]

Just wondering if anyone knows, offhand. The bottom of my Technomic is nowhere near the bottom of the tube but just wanted to know for future reference to avoid the potential problem as illustrated here on:

 

http://sheldonbrown.com/handsup.html

 

about being careful to not have the quill down into the butted section of a steerer.

 

I'd call Rivendell to ask, but since I didn't buy the bike new, I'd feel funny calling about it.

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

Put it where you want it, tighten it down. Then hold the wheel between your knees and twist the bar side to side. If the stem doesn't come loose under such force, you should be ok. You can repeat this test every so often if it makes you feel better.

[Matt Beebe]

While I don't know for sure, my guess is that the steerer is not butted.  It doesn't seem like Rivendell would do that on an all-purpose frame like the Bleriot....maybe on the Roadeo, which is a more lightweight/racier design, but even there I'm not sure they'd deem it practical.    You just want to avoid having the wedge overlap the bottom of the steerer threads AFAIK.


Matt

[jinxed]

FWIW, when I was in the bike making biz, we did several lugged steel forks. We used steerer tubes from at least 3 vendors and they were all butted.

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

 I think they're all butted, at least most. This is why you can't usually push a long quill all the way through the steerer and hit the tire/fender.

[lungimsam]

Once I looked down the tube to see what was in there when I had the stem off. I did not notice any butting. Don't know if one can with naked eye. Just looked like a straight pipe down to the end if I remember correctly, and then I could see the fender and daylight.

 

But, when I shove the stem all the way down, it hits "bottom". Maybe that's the wedge catching a lip somewhere. Maybe that is because it is butted. I cannot tell.

[Michael Levin]

I took some photos of my Bleriot that may help:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikelevin/sets/72157625864282126/with/8074624168/
Do these help at all? The Bleriot is my favorite bike!