Alleytom

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right subforum, but I have an older hybrid and I'd like to upgrade to newer wider bars with some backsweep, I've been looking at Surly Sunrise bars, but I cannot mount them with the original stem. The issue is that it is a very tall stem w/o the ability to take off the face plate and mount bars with a cross bar like the Sunrise. I think my best bet would be a tall quill stem to threadless convertor and a threadless stem. Two questions, is it safe, and are there any better options? My current stem puts the bars 170mm above the headset and about 95mm forward. The threadless stem with the longest reach is for 25.4 bars (The Surly is 22.2mm), I'd like to find a similar one for 31.8 bars for future upgrades.

Original Stem



The components I'd like to use:

3alarmer 

...those quill to threadless conversion posts seem to work fine. Just make certain you insert it far enough into the steerer.

Your only other option to go threadless is to replace the fork with a new, uncut and unthreaded one, which is kind of a lot of work. You can get a huge variety of different quill stems, some of which will accept the bar diameter you have in mind. There are one or two with removable face plates that will probably work, and some made from tubular welded steel that are pretty forgiving with regard to bar diameter.

Ironfish653

I have a quil-to-threadless adaptor on one of my older road bikes, and it works just fine.
I don't know that you will need one that's super-extra-long like that, especially if you're running a long, tall stem like that Delta. Keep in mind, a kicked-up BMX bar, like the Surly will put the grips up higher, so you will want a correspoindingly lower stem.


Get a stem adapter for a 1" headset >1-1/8" stem, and get a stem that has a 1-1/8 HS and 31.8mm bar clamp. These are by far the easiest to find, and 31.8 is the modern standard for both MTB and road bars, so you have a lot more choices.

Otherwise, you'll be looking for that unicorn stem that has the exact combination of dimensions (that never would have been put on the same bike) These things exist, but they're neither easy to find, or inexpensive to aquire.

AeroGut

From the picture, it looks like your front brake cable runs through the stem. If that’s the case, you’ll also need to put a new cable housing stop on somewhere. The usual places are as part of the headset or sticking up from the fork.
Also, with the bars up that high above the headset, I’d be a little wary of stressing the head tube too much. Keep an eye out for any deformation or cracking in the head tube.

Retro Grouch 

Oh man! That's a lot of new parts to buy for such an old bike. You'll almost surely have to reachable the whole bike too. Are you sure you want to do that?

Ironfish653

@Alleytom Are you set on the SOMA? looking over the spec's it's really a BMX bar (22.2mm) intended for 29'er BMX bikes

If you can do without the cross-bar, there are a lot of 25.4mm high-rise bars that would fit your current stem, without rebuilding the entire front end.
The Answer Alumilite is a nice one, and you can probably find them (or similar) at your LBS.

Alleytom

I would prefer to keep the original stem if at all possible, but was looking for ~800mm bars with some rise & bend and they don't seem to exist in 24.5. I like the crossbar on the Surly bars but can live w/o it.

CliffordK

It is quite possible your stem will work with either 25.4 or 26.0 bars. You might be able to go smaller too, but may need shims.

You'll need a new stem if you go to 31.8 bars.

Alleytom

Just an update, I took the plunge, spent about $70 and got these three items via eBay & Amazon:


And ended up with this, about 4 inches extra per side, I've put about 200 miles on it and like the new set up...