Re: [CR] Enlarging a 25.4 handlebar stem to 26.0

(Example: Racing:Beryl Burton)

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:30:58 -0400
From: "Harvey Sachs" <hmsachs@verizon.net>
To: <hdarr@embarqmail.com>, Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] Enlarging a 25.4 handlebar stem to 26.0


Howard Darr wrote:

HD: I have a 25.4 Nitto Technomic stem that is 25.4 and happens to be the exact length for a bike, but the handlebars that I have and want to use is 26.0. Can I safely take it to a local machinist?

HS: In my back room, few aluminum stems are considered sacred. I mount the stem in the vise, pull out my trusty rasp with about the right radius, and voila, with a few careful strokes (keeping the rasp parallel to the imaginary centerline of the handlebar) I have a 26 mm stem. Similarly, with a few snips of a beverage can, I have an invisible shim that makes a 26.0 bar happy to live with a 26.4 stem, or a 25.4 bar with a 26.0 shim. Actually, better than a beer can is one of the plastic sheets that were used to make presentation "view-graphs" or "clears" in the antediluvian pre-PowerPoint days of yore. Easier to trim, less visible if an edge sticks out.

HD: Like wise is it safe to and a stem from 22.2 to French 22.0 HS: I was encouraged in this form of antiauthoritarian heresy by list members. It works. But light sanding around the stem is less likely to dull the upper part than sanding along the axis of the stem.

Your mileage may vary.
harvey sachs
mcLean VA