Schmolke ahead plug carbon

Good weight saving for little money

Replace the heavy clamping cone with this ultra light Ahead cap. It stiffens your fork and, after adjusting the headset once, replaces the clamping cone by clamping this Ahead cap into the steerer tube. The carbon structure was specially designed to absorb the high clamping forces of an ahead stem at the sensitive end of the fork. This results in weight savings of up to 30g.

Ordering information
Carbon forks are often oval in shape. Therefore measure the diameter at different points with a caliper and calculate the middle value to find out the correct diameter. Note that the steerer tube diameter with the stem clamped on is a tenth of a millimetre smaller. In most cases you can insert the plugs into the steerer tube without the rubber ring, as the steerer tube is clamped anyway by tightening the stem screws. If the Ahead cover is too large, you can use a metal file to file it smaller on two opposite sides and fit it into the oval steerer tube.

Mounting
Adjust the headset play as usual. Now tighten both stem bolts firmly and remove your headset clearance adjustment mechanism from the fork. Just loosen the upper stem screw a little and push the Ahead cover with the short tube piece into the steerer tube until it stops. Now just tighten the upper screw again to prevent the headset from loosening again. If you need to adjust the bearing clearance later, simply loosen the stem clamping screws, remove the Ahead cap from the steerer tube and insert its old mechanism, no matter how heavy, to correct the bearing clearance. Then put it back in the toolbox and insert the carbon cover. The plugs are glued in two parts. Please always loosen both stem screws first and then carefully pull the ahead cap out of the handlebar, possibly turning it at the same time.