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How quickly will my bars or stem fail?
I am aware of the recent thread regarding handlebar/stem fit issues, but
am still wondering how fast either component is likely to fail if I cram my 25.8mm dia bars into the 25.4mm clamp on a stem I'd like to use. The emminent Mr. Brown's voluminous website states that 25.4mm clamp area diameter is the "ISO standard" for road bars, but you sure wouldn't know that from what's on the market in the US. Everything is 25.8, 26.0, 31.7, or 31.8mm. A fair number of bars, including the Ritchey Pro bars that I have and like the shape of, are 25.8mm. At least in my perusing of stems there are few, if any, in a 25.8 clamp dia. Yeah, I know I can buy a Nitto bar in 25.4mm dia, but I don't like the shape. So, what's the deal? Are 25.8mm dia bars "...designed to be usable in either ISO (25.4) or Italian (26.0) size stems", as Sheldon says on his site, or not? BTW, I know they work fine in 26.0mm stems because I have many miles on that arrangement. TIA, Cal |
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On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 22:15:19 -0700, "CEarly" wrote:
I am aware of the recent thread regarding handlebar/stem fit issues, but am still wondering how fast either component is likely to fail if I cram my 25.8mm dia bars into the 25.4mm clamp on a stem I'd like to use. Much of the answer will be materials-dependent, and the rest usage-dependent. A steel clamp of the old style would be unlikely to have any longevity usses. A die-cast aluminum clamp very well might crack on installation, or it might work for a while, or it might work for a long time. Forged aluminum might last longer. .4mm is about 0.016", which is a pretty good amount of size mismatch for that spot in my estimation. I'd try to find somponents to make a better match. The emminent Mr. Brown's voluminous website states that 25.4mm clamp area diameter is the "ISO standard" for road bars, but you sure wouldn't know that from what's on the market in the US. Everything is 25.8, 26.0, 31.7, or 31.8mm. A fair number of bars, including the Ritchey Pro bars that I have and like the shape of, are 25.8mm. At least in my perusing of stems there are few, if any, in a 25.8 clamp dia. Oddball-dimension parts are annoyingly likely to crop up, but support for them can be scant. (People who have the misfortune to own a frame that requires a peculiar diameter to seat post are probably the most numerous victims of thsi sort of thing.) Yeah, I know I can buy a Nitto bar in 25.4mm dia, but I don't like the shape. You're not alone. There are other suppliers, though. So, what's the deal? Are 25.8mm dia bars "...designed to be usable in either ISO (25.4) or Italian (26.0) size stems", as Sheldon says on his site, or not? BTW, I know they work fine in 26.0mm stems because I have many miles on that arrangement. It might work. It might not. I will observe that as long as you are willing to accept the possibility that the failure might accur, and as long as you're checking the clamp regularly and often for signs of splitting, there's probably not a lot of risk in simply lashing it together to see what happens. If it's an old-style stem that doesn't use a removable cap on the bar clamp, I suspect that as long as you can get the bars installed, the likelihood of a failure is probably close to zero. I'd be more worried with the later-style stems, myself. -- Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to reply via email. Words processed in a facility that contains nuts. |
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