Back to the concept of modern CR tooling, Nitto also make such a stem lever, though not truly vintage like a Brooks tool. They generally sell for around $20. I don't have one, but with a narrow open-end wrench I've levered open stem clamps a number of times - sometimes a screwdriver works as well, with the stem clamp bolt removed.
I've installed this Cinelli 1A and Ambrosio 13 Volte combination before - they ARE the same dimension, and make a great -feeling and looking pair. You're doing the right thing.
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 4:39 AM, Derek Athey <devondirect@googlemail.com>wrote:
> Bill
>
> There a quite few stems which will not go round the tight curves of a
> variety of bars. Brooks made a tool which was made of steel with a notch on
> the end which slid between the stem pinch bolt (if fitted) and you could
> lever the jaws of the stem apart.
>
> There isn't a tool # on mine, but I can take a shots of it and send them to
> you off list so that you could possibly get and engineering shop to make
> one
> up. I've lost count the number of times I have used mine...one of the most
> useful tools in my box!
>
> Regards
> Derek Athey
> Honition, Devon UK
>
> On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 3:35 AM, Bill Kloos <billkloos@landuseoregon.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Team CR:
> >
> > I am trying to install a used Cinelli 1A oval logo stem on a new bar - an
> > "Ambrosio 13 Volte Champione del Mondo." The Velobase picture of the bar
> is
> > here:
> >
> >
> http://www.velobase.com/
> >
> > I can get the stem up to the start of the wider part in the middle of the
> > bar, but it is clear to me that I am going to bugger up the bar if I keep
> > pressing the stem toward the middle, where it has to go. I have put a
> > wooden wedge into the opening on the stem (the kind you use to straighten
> up
> > a door frame), and this has given me bit bigger opening, but it will not
> be
> > enough.
> >
> > What am I not doing here that should be obvious to me. I really don't
> want
> > to mar the bar, as I will lose sleep. Should I use a hardwood wedge?
> Should
> > I bathe the bar in liquid nitrogen and heat the stem? I actually
> searched
> > the archives and found nothing, so I fear I am missing something really
> > basic. But there are not many variables left.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Bill Kloos
> > Eugene, Oregon
> > "Last refuge of the terminally hip."
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> _______________________________________________
>
--
Ken Freeman
Ann Arbor, MI USA