How to fit bar and stem??

Hi,

I have a vintage set of road bars that I want to fit to my old GB stem. They are both the correct size, but I can't seem to get around some of the bends.

Can anyone recommend a way of getting it on without marking the bars?

Any help would be great.

Cheers,

Richard

The method below works well for me and is nicked from the principle that 3T use for modern quill stems;

Take the bolt out of the bar clamp on the stem.

Assuming the hole isn't blind, screw this bolt through the threaded bit at the back of the clamp.

Insert a 2p coin in the gap in the clamp. Start to tighten the bolt against the coin; the gap will open up further.

Fit the bars through the stem; once the bars are centred in the clamp, loosen the bolt and remove the 2p. The clamp should close up around the bars.

Put clamp bolt back in the correct way round. Adjust angle of bars to suit and tighten bolt fully. Job done.

Hope you find this useful.

David

Good tip, but it is an old stem with no thread.

If anyone else any hints it would be great.

Thanks anyway.

Bodge'tastic method, that probably shouldn't be recomended, but its worked for me..

Large flat headed screwdriver to open the the clamping area up a touch. Then sheild the bars when it get tricky on the bends with either paper or electrical tape.

Find a suitable wedge, probably wood, and tap it in the slot in the clamp. Cut the ends off the wedge. The clamp needs to be about 1/8 inch wider.
Now you should have a slightly oval hole for the bars to go through.
If you lok at the bend of the handlebar you can see the the bend is quite oval. Line the oval section of the bend with the now oval section of the clamp, turning the handlebar as it goes through.
Better if the stem is a bit warm.

take a very fine file or wet n dry to the mouth of the stem , to make sure there are no burrs on the edge , put a little tape on the bar at the bends as a precationary messure , the wooden wedge technique is good as you can chap in further if needed , rotate the bars when at the elbow of the bars ,

this should do the trick