NVO Components ATS Shim System

[fthomas]

I recently purchased a Jamis Aurora Elite and it comes with an NVO Components ATS Shim System.

When I picked up the bike I asked the shop owner to raise the bars 1/8th of an inch. I took it out for a test ride and as I rolled out of the parking lot the bike kept pulling to the right. I got into the street and stopped a little over two feet from some parked cars. I kept trying to see what seemed to be the problem, but did not catch that the bars and stem / wheel were then out of alignment to the right. I put the right pedal at the 2 o'clock position and jumped on it to take off. The bike leaped to the right into a parked car. No damage to the bike or the car. I caught myself with my right forearm on the windshield / back of the hood. Right forearm - serious contusion and giant hematoma and hairline fracture of the elbow.

I took the bike back to the shop and told the owner there was a problem. He stated "Are you sure it is not you?" I was sure. He called out his mechanic who gave him some remedial training on how he had loosened the stem bolt to much and turned the wheel to the right. He eyeballed it and it was OK.

I checked the alignment by measuring from the same spot on the left and right drop to a bolt on the fork and it was still out of alignment by 10 mm. I contacted NVO Components via multiple emails listed on their web site and never received a response. Not impressed!! I contacted Jamis who gave me a little better idea of how this system works, but not the amount of detail I would have liked.

I loosened the stem bolt and measured & repeated multiple times until I had it lined up within .5mm.

I still do not have a real clear picture on how this system is set up and supposed to function.

Any ideas?

[Painkiller]

It still works the same as a threadless system, but uses a shim vs spacers. Set bearing preload with the top cap, raise and lower the stem to where you want and lock the stem. If you like you can remove the shim, replace the stem, ad spacers to suit. That will make it normal again. This would be the time to change stem rise and extension too if you like. I never cared much for the ats system. The only advantage is for the rare person that moves his bar height up and down from time to time without removing the stem. The ats system would also be much lighter than an adjustable riser stem. Most people set it and forget it. I also never liked an inch or more fork tube above my stem, if that ended up being my bar height for fit, I would trim my fork tube to suit. I think the standard stem and spacers look better anyway. Any bike I have had with that system, I swapped out.