04-03-17
Stem and handlebar were attached.
Stem is a
Niner RDO and the handlebar is a carbon
Easton EC70 AX with 16° flare. These are the same parts as the factory Five Star build.
This is the first time I've dealt with a compression plug and Niner has little information about the one that comes with this frame. ENVE has some nice videos however and the one below was my source for information on how to make the thing work.
The Niner part seem functionally identical to the one in the video and installed exactly the same.
Unlike steel and aluminum steerers, the stem on a carbon steerer has to be supported by the compression plug. This means that the stem has to go at the top of the steerer where the plug sits. A stack of spacers went on the steerer, then the stem, one more spacer and then the Niner top cap. The top cap was tightened while rocking the bike back and forth until no play in the headset bearings could be felt. At this point the stem bolts were tightened to 5 Nm. Conveniently, the two 4 mm bolts were greased by Niner before the stem was packaged.
The handlebar has a textured surface at the stem contact point but carbon fiber assembly paste was applied to the inside surfaces of the stem just to be sure. The four face plate bolts were dabbed with grease and the bar went on, centered and level by eye. 5 Nm is the torque spec for the face plate bolts.
The photos below are obviously with an uncut steerer and it does look ridiculous so go ahead and laugh. Comfort in the drops is a major goal of this build and so the steerer will not be cut until I can be reasonably certain and then incrementally. Actually, I'm quite certain that a significant portion of the steerer can go away now and need to look for a 32 tpi hacksaw blade in my stack of stuff.
I just noticed that the faceplate is upside down.
At this point I did something radical. Like the old boneshakers, I coasted it down the driveway and out to the Cul de Sac. Wide tires feel weird and the saddle was raised 1 cm as soon as I got back to the garage.
It looks like one of those tall bikes they post in the Alt Bike Culture forum.
-Tim-