Unable to loosen and remove.

[Jack_Wallace]

hey,

I've recently been renovating a bike that has been sitting in my garden for quite some time. On a closer inspection I could see that some of the welds had warn and that the stem had bent. I removed the bolt from the top of the handle bars and was unable to remove the handle bars. Knowing that I didn't need the stem I resorted to sawing it in half,



I then found another set of handle bars and forks on another bike that are the same size as the ones I had sawn off, so I cut them from the other bike,

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I went to remove the handle bars to slot the stem through my bike frame but yet I am faced with the same problem. I've removed the allen bolt from the top of the handle bars and loosened the nuts on the stem but I cant remove the handlebars,



I honestly don't know what to do... :/
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[nfmisso]

Put the bolt back in, screw down so that there is 3mm (1/8") clearance under the head of the bolt, place a block of wood on top of the bolt, then wack the block of wood with a mallet, until the clearance the head of the bolt is zero or the handle bars are loose. Repeat as required.

Turning the whole thing upside down, and pouring in penetrating oil, and letting sit over night before doing the above is not a bad idea.

[Jack_Wallace]

Thanks. Its dark out now but I'll give it a try tomorrow

[Jack_Wallace]

I'm not 100% sure now this is going to work tho, if I'm trying to loosen them and pull them out to then fit the forks and bars onto my bike. How is hammering the bolt back in going to help me achieve this?

[GeorgeET]

Here is a link to how steering stems work. The bolt pulls the wedge up, as Nigel said put the bolt back in screw it into the wedge, leave a bout a 1/4" out and than tap with hammer to drive the wedge down. Put some penetrating oil by holding the bike or the forks upside down first.

Scroll halfway down to diagram.........

http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_st-z.html#stem

[Jack_Wallace]

right, I get it. I'll give it a bash tomorrow then. Pun intended.

[Jack_Wallace]

Thanks for the help guys. What you told me to do work . If I run into any other problems I'll post again.

[cradom]

Just curious, why did you cut the head tube off the other frame? Was the frame any good? It isn't now...

[Jack_Wallace]

I didn't need the bike so...

[cradom]

Well, I guess that's one way to work on a bike.