Raising handlebars on a road bike?

[Big T]

Even though the stem is straight, if you flip it over, it will give you a couple of cms of "rise". This is all to do with the angle at which the fork steerer enters the stem. It's not 90 degrees. Difficult to explain, but try it anyway, you may be surprised.

 

[Panter]

That makes sense, I didn't think of that

I'll try it when I get home

 

[Chris James]

Afaik the main benefit of the new system is less weight (at the expense of being less adjustable). I still have the internal expander bolt type on my hybrid including a tilt adjustment joint and it weighs a lot.

Are they really less heavy? I have never weighed the alternatives so couldn't say. The main advantages that I can see with my O/S aheadset vs quill stems are:

- Much stiffer (mayeb this is due to my new stem and bars being oversized?)
- Much easier to change bars

The downsides are that they are pig ugly and not as easily adjusted.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

Although many of the quoted advantages of A-head style stems may be debatable, they do have one major advantage, especially for tourists: The headsets are adjustable and servicable with just a small allen key.

With quill stems, you needed two great big 32mm spanners and I always slightly over tightened them to make sure it did not come loose when I was away without workshop style tools. As a result the headsets always eventually became notched. I also didn't service them as much as I should, whereas now, headsets last for ever because it is so easy to keep them greased and perfectly adjusted.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

See Here or Here, slightly cheaper.

 

[Membrane]

Are they really less heavy?

IIRC my quill stem weighs approximately half a kilo. It is solid metal, aluminium for the stem itself, stainles steel for the bolts, the wedge is solid steel. This solid lump of metal sinks into the fork deeper than usually needed to facilitate raising of the bars. With the A-head system the fork extends higher, but it is hollow and it doesn't protude any higher than needed.

The main advantages that I can see with my O/S aheadset vs quill stems are:

- Much stiffer (mayeb this is due to my new stem and bars being oversized?)
- Much easier to change bars

The downsides are that they are pig ugly and not as easily adjusted.

Agreed on the uglyness and poor adjustability of A-head stems, but I never had any problems with stiffness or changing the bars with quill stems.

 

[Panter]

See Here or Here, slightly cheaper.

Thanks for that

At that price I may just as well get one and know I'll get perfect positioning

 

[John Ponting]

Chris

I know I've seen this item http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&id=1397 on a UK site but cannot track it down right now.


Tonights backup may never get started if I don't try a bit of work soon but ...


http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/513-18280

http://www.cyclesuk.com/ViewProduct.aspx.qmap/ptId/847/pId/74856

http://www.cyclesense.co.uk/products.php?plid=m14b90s89p3122

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-...steerer-to-increase-height-SEE-NOTES-3780.htm

oh well - back to the other keyboard.

 

[fatfreddy]

Thanks for that

At that price I may just as well get one and know I'll get perfect positioning

not necessarily ........ as you change the angle, you also change the reach. Still worth a go though. Why not try ebay? - fiddle around with angle and reach on a cheap one and then buy a fixed (lighter) stem.

I did just this to sort out the position on my wife's bike.

FF

 

[Abitrary]

You can get extenders for threadless headsets. I tried one once and my bike ended up looking like a Victorian concept bike

 

[gbb]

Similar problems for me Panter..
I flipped the stem, there can be a little benefit there...depends on your stem.

Also i undid the bar clamp bolts and 'rotated' the bars up a bit. The bars of course are still at the same height, but the hoods are now higher and marginally closer to you...i found an immediate improvement there.

 

[Abitrary]

Also, make sure your handlebars are the right width. If they are too narrow then you aren't spreading your weight

 

[Elmer Fudd]

See Here or Here, slightly cheaper.

I have seen one for about £15 somewhere, ideal if you just want something to experiment with until you've sussed out what angle you really need.
I'll see if I can find it for you.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Found It !!

Yahoo! Elmer comes good

 

[John Ponting]

I was going to be really clever and suggest combing a raiser with one of the length adjustable stems that were popular in late 50s or early 60s. then had a senior moment and couldn't remember what they were called. google didn't help.

But then the name Major Taylor came to me while I was typing this.