Well, it still takes a bit of care to install a Cinelli bar in a Cinelli stem without scratching the bar. Or most matched sets of bar and stem for that matter. I use the Nitto tool made for spreading the stem, and I also lubricate the bar and stem with Softsoap, which helps a lot.
Perhaps one sees TTT bars in Cinelli stems precisely because the 26.0 TTT bars are easier to install in the 26.4 Cinelli stem. Quite a few people used this combination In The Day, maybe even occasionally OE on complete bikes. One certain and similar example was the mid 70's Raleigh Pros, which came with 25.4 GB "Map of Britain" bars clamped in 26.0 TTT stems. 0.4 mm in the Cinelli/TTT case or 0.6 mm in the TTT/GB case isn't a very big difference, and one usually could simply tighten the nose bolt enough to keep the bars from slipping. The concern, of course, is that this puts additional stress on the stem, which could eventually cause a crack. I'm sure that happened occasionally, but as with many such matters, the problem was probably much worse in theory than in actual practice.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Pacific Coast Cycles <paccoastcycles@sbcglobal.net>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] Cinelli Aluminum Bars-Engraving Protection During Stem Placement
\r?\n> To: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, "George Hollenberg" <ghollmd@gmail.com>
\r?\n> Date: Monday, September 7, 2009, 12:37 AM
\r?\n> George, if you are installing a
\r?\n> Cinelli bar into a Cinelli stem, there should be no problem.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I assume that all or most here know this, Cinelli (older
\r?\n> parts) were 26.4 mm and should be kept brand specific.
\r?\n> Often, much too often, bikes come into my shop with a TTT
\r?\n> bar in a Cinelli stem.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Chuck Hoefer
\r?\n> Vista, California USA
\r?\n>
\r?\n> --- On Sat, 9/5/09, George Hollenberg <ghollmd@gmail.com>
\r?\n> wrote:
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> From: George Hollenberg <ghollmd@gmail.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Cinelli Aluminum Bars-Engraving Protection
\r?\n> During Stem Placement
\r?\n> To: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
\r?\n> Date: Saturday, September 5, 2009, 1:07 PM
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Aside from using a spreader, can any additional things be
\r?\n> done to protect
\r?\n> the engravings when placing a stem on older aluminium
\r?\n> Cinelli bars?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> --
\r?\n> George
\r?\n>
\r?\n> George Hollenberg MD
\r?\n> CT, USA