I am in the process of assembling my 70 BIANCHI and wish to swap the bars for a wider version and I am having a very difficult time getting the stem open wide enough to negotiate the bend(3ttt GRAN PRIX bar and stem) I can see where a previous attempt was made by the grooving around most of the bar diameter also see why on later stems they taper the stem adjacent to the binder) since there was the grooving and in light of various threads lately on failed bars ,I was just going to cut the bar...........but I thought I would put it to the group.........any ideas? I have tried the screwdriver flat spread method and also have some snap ring pliers which open out both did not work(I did not want to ruin the stem)
NITROBOB
just tinkering here in COOL MILL VALLEY,CA