Raising handlebars?

[LosingFocus]

OK, so daft question, but how do you raise (or lower) the handlebars on a road bike?

Ive noticed some back pain after using my road bike and I think I need to being the handlebars up a fraction, at least until I got used to the different body shape more.

There is an allen-key hole on the steerer bit, and 2 joining the stem to the steerer...

any help appreciated.

 

[Kestevan]

First question is, do you have any spare steerer tube length?

The normal way to adjust the height of the bars is to add or subtract spacers below the stem. The spacers are thin metal rings that fit around the steerer tube. Most bikes will have at least a couple between the top of the head tube and the stem.

If you have some unused spacers above the stem you can move them underneath. To do this first slacken off the stem bolts, then undo the top allen key bolt at the top of the steerer and remove the cap. Remove the stem and any spacer rings above it, then add the required spacers to the steerer below the stem and replace stem and any unused spacers. Tighten up the stem clamp and then the bolt in the top of the steerer.

The bolt on top of the steerer should not be overtightened. It's the stem bolts that hold everything together, the steerer bolt should be used only to nip everything together. If you overtighten it without the stem being in place you'll only pull the steerer bung out (and putting it back is a PITA).

If you dont have any spare spacers, and your stem is tight up against the top of the steerer tube , you might be able to flip the stem - some have a slight up angle when fitted the other way up. Failing that it's either buy a new stem with a higher angle, or replace your forks for ones with a longer steerer tube, and some spacers.

 

[siadwell]

If you dont have any spare spacers, and your stem is tight up against the top of the steerer tube , you might be able to flip the stem - some have a slight up angle when fitted the other way up. Failing that it's either buy a new stem with a higher angle, or replace your forks for ones with a longer steerer tube, and some spacers.

I flipped the stem on my Spesh Secteur as my hand position when on the hoods didn't feel right.

Simple job - you need to undo the bolts holding the face plate of the stem to the main part of the stem to remove the handlebar. Then undo the bolt in the cap at the top of the steerer tube so that you can remove the stem and put it back on upside down. I also took the opportunity to angle the bars up slightly when fixing the faceplate back on.

Didn't make a big difference to geometry, but did feel more natural.

 

[Norm]

Did ^^ that ^^ on my Secteur too, with the same results.

But get very confident with the process on YouTube or in books before you actually undo anything, as doing it wrong can have obvious disastrous consequences.

Alternatively, it should take less than 5 minutes so it might cost no more than a cup of Starbucks if you have a friendly LBS.

 

[LosingFocus]

OK, cool thanks. My bars are as high on the steerer as they can go (and now I think about it, this is what the chap told me when I was "fitted" for it), so I might investigate flipping the stem.

Saying that though, Im just back from a quick 15 miler and it seemed more comfortable today....

 

[colinr]

Flipping the stem is easy. Only thing to watch is if you've a 4 bolt faceplate to undo / tighten bolts in a cross pattern. If you do both top or both bottom first you can pop the opposite side and wreck the threads.

 

[e-rider]

flipping the stem of buying a new stem with a different angle or reach are options. The only other option would be to buy new forks with a longer steerer tube.

My road bike came with the steerer tube cut very short (20mm of spacers) so I did the later option and bought new forks - cost me £100 to raise my bars!!!

I really don't know why bikes are not supplied with the steerer uncut so that the customer can decide how long they want it! I would like to see this more often over the coming years and some manufacturers are now doing it on top end road bike models which is a step in the right direction.

 

[snailracer]

If you need to raise the bars six inches or so, fit a stem extender.

 

[hondated]

I have also had this problem when I brought my bike from GB cycles Croydon some years ago now and it still irks me that they were suppose to be giving me professional advice when I brought it. I initially tried fitting the adaptor that has been recommended but it did not feel very good
and looked awful. In the end I threw caution to the wind went onto Ebay and got a set of replacement forks for £60 and have never regretted it.