Handlebars won't fit

[etristram]

hi, i have very little idea what i'm doing. I have a handlebar and a stem which I believe is the right size for the handlebar. It's a bullhorn bar, and when I try to insert it into the stem, the curvature of the bar prevents this.

Any ideas? I loosened it all the way. I have yet to measure the exact millimeter inner diameter of the stem, and correlate with the outer diameter of the bar, which I do already have, but from eyeballing it, it looked pretty much perfect...

thanks

[nd456]

Pictures would greatly help

[trevgbb]

I guess you are trying to feed this through a quill stem like this?


you may need to try to find a stem with a clamp like this, although this is a bmx stem, it will still fit provided the shaft dia. is the same.

[xerxes]

You can also get a quill stem adapter, that will allow you to use an A head stem with a completely removable face plate:

[trevgbb]

Hi xerxes, hadn't seen that conversion before, but now see that Madison stock it £15, thanks for that.

[GeorgeET]

Wow , some very interesting stems. I especially like the xerxes one.

If your bars are correct diameter, and there are some variations, you should be able to make them work.

Remove the tightening bolt and Very gently put a wedge like a thick screwdriver tip into the opening to widen it a bit, do not use much force. Than put some lube grease would stick best on the curved section of the bar and gently turn to back and forth and try again.

On my conversion I used the original racing bar, took it off and than flipped it upside and mounted again it was tight . I than remounted original brake levers and rode for a while till i found the best location for my hands. I than cut off the rest of the bar and taped it with gel tape. Worked out great.

[xerxes]

(10-22-2010, 10:52 AM)trevgbb Wrote:  Hi xerxes, hadn't seen that conversion before, but now see that Madison stock it £15, thanks for that.

You can find them for less than that: http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b109s88p1833&rs=gb

[redfoxglove]

(10-22-2010, 12:46 PM)GeorgeET Wrote:  Wow , some very interesting stems. I especially like the xerxes one.

If your bars are correct diameter, and there are some variations, you should be able to make them work.

Remove the tightening bolt and Very gently put a wedge like a thick screwdriver tip into the opening to widen it a bit, do not use much force. Than put some lube grease would stick best on the curved section of the bar and gently turn to back and forth and try again.

On my conversion I used the original racing bar, took it off and than flipped it upside and mounted again it was tight . I than remounted original brake levers and rode for a while till i found the best location for my hands. I than cut off the rest of the bar and taped it with gel tape. Worked out great.

Very cool picture. Never thought of cutting/reman the bar. Husband can do this for me...thanks

[GeorgeET]

Thanks. Find your grip and cut an 2 1/2 inches more for the brakes.
I find them more comfortable than my mountain bike with horn extenders.

[redfoxglove]

(06-03-2013, 11:14 PM)GeorgeET Wrote:  Thanks. Find your grip and cut an 2 1/2 inches more for the brakes.
I find them more comfortable than my mountain bike with horn extenders.

What a cool idea. Cutting 2.5 more inches for brakes, good heads up. This is the kind of thing husband loves for me to do, instead of buying new.

[GeorgeET]

OOPs..... that was find your grip and add 2 1/2 more inches for the brakes.Than cut the bars.
Pipe cutters are great, hack saw works too.

[redfoxglove]

(06-04-2013, 01:48 AM)GeorgeET Wrote:  OOPs..... that was find your grip and add 2 1/2 more inches for the brakes.Than cut the bars.
Pipe cutters are great, hack saw works too.

yes, I got that. find your grip and add 2.5 inches. yeah, he likes to tear things up with tools. but always makes a good thing out of it.