Originally Posted by
dro.pru
any recommendations on a stem? currently have a generic 110 mm with 7 degree rise/drop and 26mm handlebar clamping area and 1 1/8 steerer tube. looking for 90mm and 25.4 mm clamping area since i decided to upgrade my handlebars to nitto 123s since the bar that came with the bike are too wide. would going plus or minus a degree based 0n what I can find change things much?
Originally Posted by
Quinn8it
If you are riding the Steel Nittos (123 or125) you need to use the Steel Nitto stem as they don't mate with aluminum stems..
If aluminum- I go thomson. 25.4 are usually available on eBay
Actually, the Thompson 25.4 stems don't mate well with the Nitto B123/125 bars. The inside of the faceplate is hollow and is designed to grip on the outer edges of the faceplate. The Nitto bars have a narrow clamp area. So, the overlap of the stem and clamp is only a few millimeters on each side. In short, they don't mate well together.
Here's what can happen.
Photo sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frecklejuice/5603585921/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frecklejuice/5604170194/
In my opinion, the best solution is to use 25.4 - 31.8mm shims. It's not an elegant solution, but it works, even for very strong standing starts. Also you can use 31.8 stems which are easy to find.
