SoSmellyAir

Me too. And likewise when I play snooker or pool. That was just a specific tip for Jughed to try.

50PlusCycling

The Blue Lug bicycle shop in Japan has a YouTube channel in which they have lots of videos of their bike builds. A few of these videos show their process for aligning levers and other things. These videos are well-produced, and besides showing the building process, they show a little bit of the Tokyo cycling culture. They also produce videos of their staff rides in different parts of the Japan. Blue Lug’s channel

RubeRad

This thread caught my attention. I like FB's cardboard jig idea, but I like Kontact's X measurement better.

Next question: My version of this is getting handlebars perfectly perpendicular to the wheel. Instead of just tryna eyeball it, what is a geometric way to do it?

Kontact 

Eyeballs are best. The thing people get wrong is that they try to align the wheel, top tube and stem. Turn the bars out of alignment with the frame and just look at the front and back of the stem in relation to the tire exposed in front and in back of it.

RubeRad

Interesting to see others have found what I intuited as well, turning the wheel does seem to help focus. But there's gotta be a geometry way.

Like what if you take a cloth measuring tape (like for sewing), and run it from handlebar tip, under the rim, and to the other handlebar tip. You should be able to measure the same number of mm on either side. I wanna go try that now.

biker128pedal

This made me think about using a contour gauge. Most likely best used before taping.

I use a level across the hoods to match a level handlebar. Then measure from a point on the forward portion of each hood to the center the stem.

Or just eye it.

plumberroy

I don't care about the levers being symmetrical I set brake levers up to feel natural reach and comfortable. Since most of my bikes are flat bars . The right brake lever is rotated up a little higher than the left just feels natural for me

SoSmellyAir

It seems much easier just to align the front wheel with the stem than to somehow otherwise ensure that the handlebar -- which has so many curved segments -- is perfectly perpendicular to the front wheel?

Merry Christmas.

SoSmellyAir

Totally agree with ignoring the top tube and just focusing on the stem and the front wheel.

RubeRad

Agree that's a geometrically equivalent goal, but the stem is a much shorter line segment to work with, so maybe harder to judge parallel, plus there are tricks of perspective depending on how you look at it

Kontact 

Seeing parallel (which is what we experience while riding a stem aligned with the wheel), is much easier and more relevant than trying to measure perpendicular between two objects with no flat sides. And using a measure like I suggested for the brake levers doesn't work very well when there are no real landmarks on the wheel and the angles are all relatively shallow.

RubeRad

A string through the wheel and pulled taut would be a relatively wide angle (for modern MTB flat bars)

Kontact 

And then what do you do?

Aardwolf

Something I found a while back:
..
I use rubber bands to hold an 18" wooden ruler to the forks, the ends of the bars overlap by about 1/4 inch.

Troul 

just take it to the lbs & pay them to figure it out. Free coffee while you're there dropping/picking it up too!

SoSmellyAir

Through which part of the wheel?

RubeRad

Just under the rim. Pull taut to the ends of the handlebars, let the wheel go where the string pulls it. Make sure the length of string on both sides is the same number of mm.

I just don't know, if the handlebars are off by x degrees, how many mm of difference that makes in string, if the method is sensitive enough.

RubeRad

I like that, sounds easier to try than string

SoSmellyAir

No, I don't think this would ensure that the axis of the wheel is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bike.

FBinNY 

For those who actually care about this, there's a simple way, which requires minimal skill or effort.

Put the bike along a wall. Brace the bar solidly against the wall with the bottom and outside top stabilizing it. Measure wall to a lever reference point. Flip bike and repeat.

awac

It never done Beryl Burton any harm either!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton

RubeRad

You're talking if the stem is loose, to force the stem position before tightening? That's an idea too. I was just talking about measuring, if the two bent lengths of string are not the same, adjust and check again

bocobiking

For lever height, run a cloth sewing tape measure from the tip of one end of the handlebar along the bar up to the lever clamp. Repeat on the other side. Of course, you have to do this without handlebar tape.

For stem alignment, first, as has been mentioned, turn the bars and wheel away from alignment with the top tube. Then lay a straightedge on its edge along the center of the stem so that the straightedge extends beyond both the front and back of the stem. Then when you sight straight down at the straightedge, you can see if both the front and the back of the straightedge align along the center of the tire. It helps to do this sighting with one eye closed.

SoSmellyAir

No. I think I understand the method you described above now that you have clarified that it is for measuring the respective distance of each bar end to the stem rather than for aligning the stem between the bar ends. Assuming that your fork is symmetrical, removing the front wheel (and thus eliminating this moving part) and then running a string from one bar end though both fork dropouts to the other bar end might be more accurate.

Garthr

The irony with "ocd" is that it is in itself, "out of alignment". Think about it.

Being "healthy" or expressing "health/wholeness" is not about "fixing" things, it's understanding that there isn't anything out of place to begin with. That what "wholeness" is.