What bike stem to buy?
10-28-14, 05:19 PM
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What bike stem to buy?
I am using my sister's Huffy Trailrunner mountain bicycle and the stem is a tad bit long for me. It is 100mm and I want to shorten to a 90mm. It's also a little low for my preference so I want to buy an adjustable stem but I don't know what size. Is it 1" or 1/8"? It is a threaded stem. Everything is still on the bicycle and I don't want to take it apart to measure. Can anyone tell just from the description?
10-28-14, 05:43 PM
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I looked at the Walmart website and it looks to have a threaded headset and a quill type stem. There is no way for me to know if it is 1" or 1-1/8, but very easy for you to tell - loosen the 6mm allen bolt on the top of the stem, remove the stem, and look at it. Down near the minimum insertion line it will either have the number "21.1", "22.2", or "25.4". That is the diameter of quill stem you need to replace it.
22.2 is the standard 1" size; 21.1 is a less common 1" size, and 25.4 is the 1-1/8" size.
22.2 is the standard 1" size; 21.1 is a less common 1" size, and 25.4 is the 1-1/8" size.
10-28-14, 06:50 PM
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You really need to take the bike apart and measure the stem to make sure of what you have. It's not unusual for specifications to change without notice and or changes to the bike's advertising materials as production progresses and the bike brand changes contracts with suppliers of parts.
If you don't want to be bothered with taking the bike apart and buying multiple stems to get the bike where you want it, consider biting the bullet and taking the bike to a bike shop where the shop will take the bike apart, and you can try different stems before settling on, and buying one stem (instead of buying stems one by one till you find the one that fits).
If you don't want to be bothered with taking the bike apart and buying multiple stems to get the bike where you want it, consider biting the bullet and taking the bike to a bike shop where the shop will take the bike apart, and you can try different stems before settling on, and buying one stem (instead of buying stems one by one till you find the one that fits).
10-28-14, 07:44 PM
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Maybe the seat is all the way back & you could slide it forward a bit instead. It might be "good enough" for your purposes.
The current stem can be raised, until you hit the "minimum insertion" line.
The current stem can be raised, until you hit the "minimum insertion" line.
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10-29-14, 02:23 AM
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If you hit a bike coop, they're likely to have lots of old mtb quill stems for $2 or so. Maybe even free. Note that higher angle makes for shorter reach. A +35° 100mm stem has less reach than a +10° 100mm stem
10-29-14, 05:17 AM
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10-29-14, 08:20 AM
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My guess is it's for casual riding around, and I doubt knee injury will result in this situation. Correct seat height is more important.
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Last edited by Homebrew01; 10-29-14 at 09:01 AM.
10-29-14, 08:44 AM
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I agree 100%. It's a small change, and there is no reason to believe the assembler at X mart put the saddle in a reasonable position to begin with..
10-29-14, 08:51 AM
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Yes, all true - but I've seen that "fix" suggested often enough that I thought it best to insert the caveat.
10-29-14, 09:51 AM
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