adjusting handlebar stem

Karen Gallagher said:

Pardon my ignorance, but I know bike technology has changed a great deal
since my first bike experiences, but ...

How are stems held in place these days? My Avanti Corsa has a very short
bolt in the top of the stem, doesn't look long enough to be the type I'm
familiar with that has a long bolt and an offset nut at the bottom.

I'd just like to know what I'm about to break before I whack the
loosened bolt with a hammer to move the bars up a little 🙂 The headset
bearings are clearly totally different to the old threaded type, so it
follows that the stem too may be held in differently.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/threadless-headset.html

Don't hit it. You can only adjust the height by changing to an angled
stem - can you flip it over so it angles up? Once the fork is cut to a
particular height, you're kind of stuck with playing with different
stems..

--
..dt

dtmeister said:

Karen Gallagher said:

Pardon my ignorance, but I know bike technology has changed a great deal
since my first bike experiences, but ...

How are stems held in place these days? My Avanti Corsa has a very short
bolt in the top of the stem, doesn't look long enough to be the type I'm
familiar with that has a long bolt and an offset nut at the bottom.

I'd just like to know what I'm about to break before I whack the
loosened bolt with a hammer to move the bars up a little 🙂 The headset
bearings are clearly totally different to the old threaded type, so it
follows that the stem too may be held in differently.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/threadless-headset.html

Don't hit it. You can only adjust the height by changing to an angled
stem - can you flip it over so it angles up? Once the fork is cut to a
particular height, you're kind of stuck with playing with different
stems..

OK, it's already inverted, so I'm stuck with having to buy another stem.
I'll leave that till I've found myself a saddle I'm happy with, so I
only change one thing at a time.

But my interest is piqued now, what's that centre bolt for, it's too
solidly in to be just for show.

Karen

--
"I'd far rather be happy than right any day."
- Slartibartfast

Karen Gallagher said:

But my interest is piqued now, what's that centre bolt for, it's too
solidly in to be just for show.

The centre bolt is for adjusting play in the headset. You need to loosen
the bolts that clamp the stem to the steerer tube before you adjust the
centre bolt.

--
..dt

"Karen Gallagher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

dtmeister said:

Karen Gallagher said:

Pardon my ignorance, but I know bike technology has changed a great

deal

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

since my first bike experiences, but ...

How are stems held in place these days? My Avanti Corsa has a very

short

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

bolt in the top of the stem, doesn't look long enough to be the type

I'm

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

familiar with that has a long bolt and an offset nut at the bottom.

I'd just like to know what I'm about to break before I whack the
loosened bolt with a hammer to move the bars up a little 🙂 The

headset

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

bearings are clearly totally different to the old threaded type, so it
follows that the stem too may be held in differently.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/threadless-headset.html

Don't hit it. You can only adjust the height by changing to an angled
stem - can you flip it over so it angles up? Once the fork is cut to a
particular height, you're kind of stuck with playing with different
stems..

OK, it's already inverted, so I'm stuck with having to buy another stem.
I'll leave that till I've found myself a saddle I'm happy with, so I
only change one thing at a time.

But my interest is piqued now, what's that centre bolt for, it's too
solidly in to be just for show.

See the section 'headset adjustment' here, including some nice pictures.
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=65

The centre bolt is only there to adjust the pre-load on the bearings. The
stem itself is what clamps it all together. The little bolt down the middle
does the same thing as screwing down a threaded headset's top cup to adjust
the bearings on an older-style headset. Insead of using a another nut on
top of the top cup as a locknut to hold it all together, the stem itself is
the clamping mechanism.
It's all very very easy to ajust, don't know why people don't anjust them
more often if things are out of whack?

Gemm

Karen Gallagher wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

OK, it's already inverted, so I'm stuck with having to buy another stem.
I'll leave that till I've found myself a saddle I'm happy with, so I
only change one thing at a time.

<snip>

On Friday we'll breakfast at Peloton Cafe if that's okay with everyone.
I'll introduce you to Kenny, who will introduce you to some lovely
saddles. Better than the fact that these saddles are lovely, is the fact
that you pay a deposit, try it, if you don't like it, try the next one,
if you don't like that, try the next one... and so on.

Tam

Tamyka Bell said:

Karen Gallagher wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

OK, it's already inverted, so I'm stuck with having to buy another stem.
I'll leave that till I've found myself a saddle I'm happy with, so I
only change one thing at a time.

<snip>

On Friday we'll breakfast at Peloton Cafe if that's okay with everyone.
I'll introduce you to Kenny, who will introduce you to some lovely
saddles. Better than the fact that these saddles are lovely, is the fact
that you pay a deposit, try it, if you don't like it, try the next one,
if you don't like that, try the next one... and so on.

Tam

Now THAT is just what I was looking for - the saddle I have now is still
so new that the price sticker's still on it, but it's giving me a right
royal pain in the you know what.

I'll try to make sure I'm able to come on Friday then 🙂

Thanks a million for that info Tam, I was going to go shopping for
saddles tomorrow, I'll postpone that now.

Karen

--
"I'd far rather be happy than right any day."
- Slartibartfast

On 14/6/06 11:17 AM, in article
[email hidden], "dtmeister"

Quoted message said:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/threadless-headset.html

Don't hit it. You can only adjust the height by changing to an angled
stem - can you flip it over so it angles up? Once the fork is cut to a
particular height, you're kind of stuck with playing with different
stems..

That may or may not be correct. Most stems are cut so that there are at
least a few spacers in there (ymmv). If there are spacers above the stem you
may be able to adjust a little.

--brett