Don, I wasn't interested in the stem, as it's way too long for me. What concerned me was that the bars seem to drop downward immediately on either side of the stem. I've never seen a bend that does that, but this kind of "droop" at the stem is a tipoff to cracks in the infamous AVA "death bars". I would have figured these bars were cracked for sure, except that the "droop" does seem awfully symmetrical, so maybe they might be OK after all.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca> wrote:
http://ebay.com/
These bars have the fairly-rare GB stem with recessed allen bolt. Its one of the only stems of this type I've seen in on 'the bay in the past 2-3 years.
The stem length appears to be for a 22.5" or 21.5" bike. This stem is a necessary part of a restoration for a Raleigh International bicycle, 1973-1976, the only model in the Raleigh line that came with these bars as standard equipment. I have also seen instances of the Raleigh Professional that looked original, and used this stem.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA