Andy_K 

I spent a couple of days this weekend sanding down a Nitto Tecnomic stem to fit a French steerer. It took some work, but I got it down to size and then spent some time with progressively finer grit sandpaper and finally a bit of Mother's Mag polish to get it looking like new. I was waiting for a Soma HWY One handlebar to be delivered, and it arrived last night. So with great anticipation, I slid the stem onto the bar, only to find that it wouldn't clear the bend at the drops. I've got like six other bikes using these same bars with Tecnomic stems, so this came as quite a surprise to me. As I was rotating the stem around to various angles trying to get it to pass, it dawned on me what was wrong. This particular Tecnomic stem has a 25.4 mm clamp diameter, and all the ones I've used with these bars are 26.0. Even if I had gotten it around the bend, it wasn't going to work.

Does anyone know of a compact handlebar with a 25.4 mm clamp diameter that comes in silver? Or do I need to get the right stem for my Soma bars and start over with the sanding? I've got a 25.4 mm bar with a more traditional bend, but it's going to put the reach out a lot further than the Soma bars would.

icemilkcoffee 

Use a reamer to ream out the 25.4 clamp opening to make it 26.0. I did it once with a brake cylinder honing setup. It took I think 3 sets of honing stones. In hindsight though I should have put an aluminum spacer in the gap. The edge there is what wore down the stones rapidly.

noobinsf 

I've heard tales of a unicorn bar called the Nitto 174, but it is hard to find. It's like a short reach Noodle with 25.4 clamp diameter. Blue Lug has it in 38mm and 40mm, which are too narrow for me, but I am on the "notify me" list for 42mm and 44mm. https://global.bluelug.com/catalog/p...view/id/30320/

nlerner

Perhaps look here?

https://whatbars.com/

rustystrings61 

Don't forget that much of the time you won't need to sand down a Nitto stem to fit a metric/French/Swiss steerer if you (a) run a brake cylinder hone down the inside of the steerer tube to remove any corrosion and smooth it up and (b) make sure that the top of the locknut entry is opened out. Allegedly, Nitto stems are actually 21.9. I used this method successfully to fit a Technomic in a Nervor metric steerer on an Allegro - though I don't recall if I had to open up the Motobecane-made-by-Stronglight headset locknut on mine or not.

Andy_K 

Cool site! I wish they had the bar clamp diameter in the table and more drop bars.

Andy_K 

I'm about 50-50 on that. I've had a few fit without modification, including a Soma Sutro. This is the second Nitto I've had to sand down. I was measuring as I went (easier than walking over to the frame constantly to see how I was doing) and it started out pretty close to 22.2.

Andy_K 

I kind of like this idea, but I feel like this poor stem has been through enough. Plus, not having a reamer, I can probably sand down another stem with the proper bar clamp size just as easily.

noobinsf 

If you want to offset the cost of a new stem, you'd likely have good luck selling yours here since it's a time-consuming mod many of us would want for ourselves and appreciate not having to undertake.

mhespenheide 

I can't help with a suggestion for bars, but I can confirm that I've also had the unpleasant surprise of finding a Technomic with a 25.4mm handlebar diameter opening when I had previously only encountered ones with a 26.0mm opening. They are out there.

Andy, if you could work with a (non-compact) "anatomic" model, I've got some 44cm (center-to-center) bars with a 25.4mm center section.

Andy_K 

Compact handlebars and a tall stem are already going to be jarring enough on this bike (1960's Peugeot). While I kind of like anatomic handlebars, I'm afraid vintage bike lovers might storm my garage with pitchforks and torches if I did that. More relevantly, I was extremely surprised a few years back to discover that not only can I feel the difference between 42cm bars (which is what I normally use) and 44cm bars, but the difference is significant enough that I don't like 44's.

In related news, my search led me to this, which was worth the effort if only for comic value: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832378814097.html -- From "SEE bikes" Ali Express offers the "breaking wind bent hander"! I have been known to break wind while on the bike, and this looks like exactly what I was after, but I'm not sure I'm ready to trust my teeth to $8 handlebars from an unknown source.

The buyer Q&A section had this helpful bit of information:

Q: how to think mining machinery set out it?
A: You can put, but will look Collective

I should note that (1) being a typical American I only speak one language, and (2) being a software developer I've probably unleashed worse things on the world than the software that translated that Q&A, but I still got a nice chuckle out of it.

I also enjoyed that each picture says "SEE" in big letters in the corner. Yes, I do see.

rhm

I like the look of that handlebar. What could possibly go wrong? This might be a good time for @nlerner to tell us about those carbon rims bought on aliexpress.

Andy_K 

I'd be interested to hear about @nlerner's experience. I did decide to order these handlebars. They gave me a coupon for $3, so I figured for $18, shipping included, it was worth a gamble just to see what they look like in person. I figure that all of us who are into vintage bikes take chances on components of unknown safety all the time, so why should I let lack of rebranding keep me away from these?

I realized I'm probably going to have the same issue with getting the stem onto these that I did with the Soma bars, since the problem there was related to the curvature of the bars, not just the stem clamp diameter. But with these bars being so cheap I'd be willing to play around with ideas like crimping the inside of the bend to get the stem past.

Classtime 

Am I the only one here who sometimes puts an Allen wrench into the slot in front of the clamp and with a little twist achieve that .6mm? Forget the hammer as it won't work in this case.

nlerner

Pothole at speed + carbon lightweight rims =

Andy_K 

Ouch!

Of course, it's well known that carbon assplodes at the first opportunity.

dddd

The bulged and knurled center section on those bars looks EXACTLY like on the handlebar that I broke after some years of cyclocross racing on it (and which I replaced with a Nitto component).
It endured a lot of hard sprinting-mode use before it failed, though I am not a heavy rider.
The Nitto replacement bar had visibly thicker wall thickness at the ends, for what that's worth.

Today's light/cheap bars are likely going to be at least as durable as many of the old French handlebars imo.

I sought a self-aligning method for reaming out stems from 25.4mm to 26.0mm, so came up with this.
The "sandpaper" is heavy-duty and is stiff, cut from a sanding belt (important features for use with this method).
Notice the Allen key in the clamp slot, for adjusting the grip force. The key was withdrawn incrementally during the reaming process.
I got to 25.8mm and called it good (the bar measured 25.9mm avg diameter).
Ironically enough, I could have ordered the exact same stem with a 26.0 diameter clamp.
Oh, and these Origin8/Kalloy stem's quill measures an actual 22mm diameter, so fit all French steerers perfectly (and not wobbly even in a 22.2mm steerer).
One more tidbit:
Many French stem quills measure an actual 21.8mm, who knew!



The ride/handling improvements from changing this bike's narrow/short bar and stem was profound!