Tightening the Stem

[Hip Priest]

Right, here's my first stupid question. I've just been giving my bike the once over after its first two weeks of commuting. I did the usual thing of putting the front wheel between my legs and twisting the bars. There was a bit of movement, so I tightened it, yet there was still some movement. I then tightened it as much as I could, which improved things, but there was still some movement when I applied a bit of brute force. So my question is this: Is it normal for the stem to move under serious force, or is it meant to be tight enough to withstand any pressure? If, as I suspect, the latter is the case, what do I need to do to fix it? Because I can't tighten it any more than I have.

 

[2Loose]

You suspect wrong. Anyway, your 'max force' is probably significantly more than my 'max force'.
Your wheel\stem will never experience 'serious' force unless in a crash. My stem is supposed to be tightened to 6Nm, no more. As long as it moves when I steer the bars, it all works as it should. Too loose and it would be obvious as moving the bars would not move the wheel properly.


Have you ever locked your front door and then tried to force it to see how much force it can take before breaking the hinges? Nope, didn't think so. Some things just aren't supposed to be tested to their limit as they will never experience that limit in real life - if they do, they will need replacing. The last thing you want is a sheared off bolt in your hand.

Perhaps a torque wrench would be a good idea to help guide your mechanical sympathy?

Something like this is fairly cheap torque key and will do the job to help you gauge things.

 

[Andy_R]

Really silly question here, but which bit are you tightening? Is your headset threaded or threadless? If its threaded you should tighten the bolt/nut at the top of the quill, if threadless then the pinch bolts on the stem that clamp to the steerer, not the bolt at the top. Not trying to be condesending but its a common mistake made by people coming back into cycling (I made it myself!)

 

[Hip Priest]

Thanks for the tips chaps. I'll definitely look at getting a torque key - I think I've definitely overtightened it on this occasion.