I am currently building a bike up. I have a carbon fork, with a carbon steer tube, and I have to install it using a compression plug. I picked up one of these this morning:
http://problemsolversbike.com/products/compression_plug/
I'm just wondering if anyone has done this procedure before. I'm thinking I might run into a problem getting the vertical tension right on the headset at the same time as the tension is correct on the compression plug. Also, should I be using installation paste?
I think that the torque needed to seat the stem snugly enough is way smaller than that which would damage the steering tube.
And by the piece image and design, I would say the tension that is correct to seat the headset bearings is good to keep the plug inside too.
By the way, after you tighten the stem bolts, you could even take the plug out of the bike and ride it anyway (I had to do that some times, but just for a short period, of course...).
The top cap bolt doesn't actually bear any weight once everything is assembled. It's only there to get the stem in the correct position before you tighten the pinch bolts (and as a back-up in case the pinch bolts get loose). So that won't be a problem.
Also: composite materials are a lot more susceptible to damage from over-tightening things. Get a torque wrench for this job. Yeah, they're a little pricey - but if you can afford carbon fiber, you can afford a torque wrench.
