Dirt Drop stem stripped bolt
 

I have a nice Schwinn Sierra mountain bike (smoked chrome, yum) and it has an anodized Dirt Drop stem. The stem has 2 bolts that secure the handle bars in and one of them seems to be stripped. The one bolt seems to hold things ok, but I don't want to leave it that way. What would be the best way to fix this?

A photo would help, but for now I'll say that your best bet is probably a helicoil. Second to that would be threadlocker and a bit o' luck.

Okay, not a picture of my stem, but this should give the idea
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/images/pop-top-stem.jpg

It is a Pinch bolt style, with two bolts instead of one. One is fine, the other will not tighten.

My first thought was having it re-tapped and using a larger bolt, but I didn't know if there would be enough room for that.

Is a helicoil something that a LBS could do for me, and if so, what does something like that cost?

I think I would junk the stem. That is something you do not want to come loose while riding. You can probably find a replacement stem in the same size for less than it would take to have someone helicoil it. Your LBS probably has a bin of used quill stems (especially 1 1/8" quill stems, since they tend to convert those to threadless whenever someone needs a replacement fork)

buy one of these http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=1728

I think the schwinn has a 1 1/8" threaded... I could be wrong though. If the bottom part of the stem that inserts into the steer tube measures 7/8" across then that stem linked above will work. If it measures 1" across try this: http://aebike.com/page.cfm?action=de...=30&SKU=SM2204

That looks like a good and affordable option. Thanks.