Stem

[busymate]

Hello,
Just recently fitted handlebar stem, which by the way was a real pig to fit, very tight for some reason. Maybe slightly distorted fork tube i dont know? Anyway with some cleaning up and sanding, i managed to get it to go in about 4 inches, which i hope is ok? Then done the bolt up with the wedge on the bottom... Two things really. 1/ does the stem have to go in a minimum distance for the wedge to work and if so is 4 inches enough?
2/ How exactly does the wedge and bolt handle bar tightening system actually work?
any one shed any light please?
Phil..

[X-RAY]

should be a "minimum insertion mark" on the stem. if its there and you cant see it, your good to go. if you cant remember if it was there or not, i would think 4 inches is enuff.
how does it work? magic

[busymate]

(09-25-2010, 10:17 PM)X-RAY Wrote:  should be a "minimum insertion mark" on the stem. if its there and you cant see it, your good to go. if you cant remember if it was there or not, i would think 4 inches is enuff.
how does it work? magic

Thanks xray.

[cyclerUK]

Minimum insertion marks are about two inches from the wedge on my stems.
So 4" is well within safety tolerance.
If you have a "distorted" fork tube then that would probably show up with either loose headset or stiff and jerky steering.

The wedge, when tightened, slides to one side which clamps the stem in place.
The other type is the "expander" which opens out the bottom of the stem tube to clamp it.

See:-
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/handsup.html

[busymate]

(09-26-2010, 11:58 AM)cyclerUK Wrote:  Minimum insertion marks are about two inches from the wedge on my stems.
So 4" is well within safety tolerance.
If you have a "distorted" fork tube then that would probably show up with either loose headset or stiff and jerky steering.

The wedge, when tightened, slides to one side which clamps the stem in place.
The other type is the "expander" which opens out the bottom of the stem tube to clamp it.

See:-
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/handsup.html

thanks everybody for the help. head set all went together nicely, but stem had to be sanded with very course drill pad to make it slide in the 4 four inches that it did eventually go in./ and the wedge and bolt tightened up well, so it must be secure by now.
Phil.

[cyclerUK]

Don't forget to put some grease on before inserting. Helps to stop corrosion and easier to get out if left in a long time.

[GeorgeET]

Ye But Cycler UK its all ready stucken in. :-)

You sure you got the right size stem?? Anyway you got it in. Four inches ??? That sounds like a very long stem. They do have depth mark on them usually. If memory serves my mark is about 3 inches from bottom max.

AS per how the wedge system works is you got two wedges tightening against each other as the lower wedge goes up it increases the diameter of the handlebar stem tightening against the inside of the fork stem.
Both systems the wedge and expender work in a similar manner, expanding the diameter