Dawes Galaxy: raising handlebars

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

Quoted message said:

Attempted to raise the handlebars on my Galaxy last night, but didn't do
very well.

Unscrewed the thread located in the stem until it was slack & expected to

be

Quoted message said:

able to just raise the handlebars, but they wouldn't move up or down.

Wasn't

Quoted message said:

sure what else I could do, so gave up & put everything back as it was.

What was I doing wrong?

Gave up too easily perhaps?

The stem bolt pulls up a wedge that holds the stem in position - sometimes
it needs a tap on the stem bolt to free it (don't unscrew the stem bolt
completely). Also try squirting some WD40 or equivalent around the
stem/steerer tube junction. A bit of tapping, squirting, twisting, and
pulling should do it!

Rich

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

Quoted message said:

Attempted to raise the handlebars on my Galaxy last night, but didn't do
very well.

Unscrewed the thread located in the stem until it was slack & expected to
be
able to just raise the handlebars, but they wouldn't move up or down.
Wasn't
sure what else I could do, so gave up & put everything back as it was.

What was I doing wrong?

Thanks,

Mark

Did you give the bolt a hefty tap to free it when it was well slack?

Quoted message said:

Gave up too easily perhaps?

Probably. :-/

Quoted message said:

don't unscrew the stem bolt completely

Er... I think I did - it was loose & I could have pulled it out completely
(didn't though). Will this cause problems?

Thanks,

Mark

On 3/9/04 8:39 am, in article [email hidden],

Mark said:

Attempted to raise the handlebars on my Galaxy last night, but didn't do
very well.

Unscrewed the thread located in the stem until it was slack & expected to be
able to just raise the handlebars, but they wouldn't move up or down. Wasn't
sure what else I could do, so gave up & put everything back as it was.

Is it an old style 'quill' stem or a new style 'aheadset'? You should be
able to tell the difference by whether the stem clamps round the top of the
steerer or not. Have a look on Wiggle.co.uk to see examples of the different
ones.

...d

Mark said:

Quoted message said:

Gave up too easily perhaps?

Probably. :-/

Quoted message said:

don't unscrew the stem bolt completely

Er... I think I did - it was loose & I could have pulled it out completely
(didn't though). Will this cause problems?

Put it back in.
Screw it down until about 3 to 4 mm is protruding.
Place a piece of wood on top and give it a sharp blow with a hammer.
It should drop down and you will be able to move the bars up and down.
If the bolt does drop and the bars don't move just uncrew the bolt a
little more and repeat.

Remember to retighten after or you may turn left when you want to go
right ;-)

John B

in message <[email hidden]>, Richard Goodman

(') said:

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

Quoted message said:

Attempted to raise the handlebars on my Galaxy last night, but didn't
do very well.

Unscrewed the thread located in the stem until it was slack &
expected to

be

Quoted message said:

able to just raise the handlebars, but they wouldn't move up or down.

Wasn't

Quoted message said:

sure what else I could do, so gave up & put everything back as it
was.

What was I doing wrong?

Gave up too easily perhaps?

The stem bolt pulls up a wedge that holds the stem in position -
sometimes it needs a tap on the stem bolt to free it (don't unscrew
the stem bolt
completely). Also try squirting some WD40 or equivalent around the
stem/steerer tube junction. A bit of tapping, squirting, twisting,
and pulling should do it!

WARNING WARNING WARNING!

If it is a modern 'ahead' type stem this is _really_ bad advice!

An old style quill stem (which this will work with) comes out of the top
of the steerer tube and then has an acute angle to a near horizontal
section which goes forward to the bars. The bit that comes up out of
the steerer is the same piece of metal - usually the same casting - as
the bit that goes forward to the handlebars.

If you have a new style 'ahead' type stem - the stem clamps *around* the
top of the steerer tube - then normally you cannot adjust this for
height, unless there are spacers both below and above the stem. If
there are spacers, then you can remove the top-cap, remove the top
spacers, remove the stem, put them all back again in a suitable order,
tighten the top cap until there is no play in the headset bearing but
it still turns smoothly, then tighten the clamp bolts on the stem. It
is the clamp bolts, _not_ the top cap bolt, that hold this system
together so make sure you get them really tight. Some people even say
you should loosen the top cap bolt a bit once you have tightened the
clamp bolts.

If there are no spacers all you can do is fit a new stem with a
different angle. The fitting process is as outlined above, except that
you put the new stem on instead of the old one.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Ring of great evil
Small one casts it into flame
Bringing rise of Men ;; gonzoron

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Richard Goodman

(') said:

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

Quoted message said:

Attempted to raise the handlebars on my Galaxy last night, but didn't
do very well.

Unscrewed the thread located in the stem until it was slack &
expected to

be

Quoted message said:

able to just raise the handlebars, but they wouldn't move up or down.

Wasn't

Quoted message said:

sure what else I could do, so gave up & put everything back as it
was.

What was I doing wrong?

Gave up too easily perhaps?

The stem bolt pulls up a wedge that holds the stem in position -
sometimes it needs a tap on the stem bolt to free it (don't unscrew
the stem bolt
completely). Also try squirting some WD40 or equivalent around the
stem/steerer tube junction. A bit of tapping, squirting, twisting,
and pulling should do it!

WARNING WARNING WARNING!

If it is a modern 'ahead' type stem this is _really_ bad advice!

You'd have to be nuts to think you could lift a stem when it is visibly
clamped round the steerer tube - and with probably not much tube projecting
to raise it on. Bearing in mind the type of bike and the OP's description
and expectations, I thought it fairly self-evident we were talking about a
quill stem.

Rich

On 3/9/04 11:17 am, in article [email hidden],

Richard Goodman said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Richard Goodman
([email hidden]'😉 wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

WARNING WARNING WARNING!

If it is a modern 'ahead' type stem this is _really_ bad advice!

You'd have to be nuts to think you could lift a stem when it is visibly
clamped round the steerer tube - and with probably not much tube projecting
to raise it on. Bearing in mind the type of bike and the OP's description
and expectations, I thought it fairly self-evident we were talking about a
quill stem.

It is ALWAYS worth double checking that your assumptions are correct,
especially if it will result in serious damage or inconvenience if they are
not.

Simon is quite correct to post this warning.

...d

Richard Goodman said:

You'd have to be nuts to think you could lift a stem when it is visibly
clamped round the steerer tube - and with probably not much tube projecting
to raise it on. Bearing in mind the type of bike and the OP's description
and expectations, I thought it fairly self-evident we were talking about a
quill stem.

Rich

Not really. I didn't know what ahead stems were like initially, and
hadn't fiddled with quills either. I vaguely understood how a quill
stem was adjusted, and when I first saw ahead stems assumed it was the
same deal - so I can understand how a mistake might be made.

Now I know better.

However, people'd be confused looking at my bike. It's both quill *and*
ahead. Ahead stem with quill adaptor.

--

Velvet