Quill stem slipping in steerer - how can I fix this?

[bryanska]

I am resurrecting an old Rockhopper with a quill stem. I can't get the
quill stem to stop rotating in the steere. Seeing as will ride off
road, I need it to STAY.

The quill stem is greased. But no matter how tight I can get it, I can
still twist the handlebars in the steerer, thus winding up with bars
skewed at an angle compared to the front wheel.

Any tips? I am not inserting it too far down, and am well within the
minimum insertion.

I'd rather not put money into it. This is going to be the beater bike.

 

[landotter]

On Apr 3, 10:27 am, bryanska <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am resurrecting an old Rockhopper with a quill stem. I can't get the
> quill stem to stop rotating in the steere. Seeing as will ride off
> road, I need it to STAY.

Weird. I've fixed up a few of those--they make awesome city huckers if
you add slicks, fenders, and a crate. It's a wedge stem as far as I
remember...did you try a few different vertical positions inside the
steerer? Those stems have a good couple inches of adjustment. Have
you pulled the fork to check the steerer tube for deformity? If it's
fubared, a rigid mtb fork should be easy to scavenge. Check your local
weed smoking bike collective, or cannibalize a ten dollar thrift bike.
If you want to go fancy, Kona has some 1" P2s available, but that's
real money ($60). I guess it could be a screwy stem...can you screw it
down out of the steerer and see the wedge work?

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 3, 12:36 pm, landotter <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Apr 3, 10:27 am, bryanska <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I am resurrecting an old Rockhopper with a quill stem. I can't get the
> > quill stem to stop rotating in the steere. Seeing as will ride off
> > road, I need it to STAY.
>
> Weird. I've fixed up a few of those--they make awesome city huckers if
> you add slicks, fenders, and a crate. It's a wedge stem as far as I
> remember...did you try a few different vertical positions inside the
> steerer? Those stems have a good couple inches  of adjustment. Have
> you pulled the fork to check the steerer tube for deformity? If it's
> fubared, a rigid mtb fork should be easy to scavenge. Check your local
> weed smoking bike collective, or cannibalize a ten dollar thrift bike.
> If you want to go fancy, Kona has some 1" P2s available, but that's
> real money ($60). I guess it could be a screwy stem...can you screw it
> down out of the steerer and see the wedge work?

yep the thread in the wedge might be stripped