Dearman

Recently restarted my 1971 px10 overhaul project that has been on hold for over a year and I'm looking at what
to do about the stem. It has an Ava stem. I can have it looked at for pores and cracks inside the casting but I'm considering replacement for now. I ride heavy on the bars enough to get numbness in my hands even on short rides. Not sure if it's fit or weak core issues. I'm getting back to workouts to help with a lower back injury so that part should improve but I have a very long torso which makes everything an odd fit. Looking at the px10 it has a top tube 5cm longer than the box store bike I've been using. On that bike I can see the entire hub and inches of spokes when on the hoods. The Ava stem looks to be 85mm which is 15mm shorter than the box store one. I've been looking at cinelli's and atax to replace the Ava. Should I start with a 70 to 80 or go for longer? Also I'd like some feedback on what replacement would be a period nice upgrade. The bike is full of period upgrades.

jj1091

Just sorting through what you're saying. Your PX-10 frame is 5cm longer than what you're used to, and the stem on it is 15cm shorter than stock (mine is OEM and 100mm), makes your PX-10 10cm shorter than OEM. If you've been having trouble with hand numbness on your current ride, going with a longer stem on the PX-10 would put more pressure on your hands and also more pressure on your back, since you'd be leaning farther forward. Sounds like you'd want to keep it around the 85cm of your current PX-10's stem. I also have an AVA stem on my '71 PX-10, and have no issues with it. Maybe temporarily you could raise your bars a tad to give a more upright ride until your core strengthens?

Dearman

Thanks for the input. I'll stick with a similarly sized stem that doesn't have reported fatigue issues and start with higher bars. Hopefully that gets me close enough that I'm not shopping for another one right away. I plan to move to another project afterwards so I'd like to just tweak this one after it's off the stand. I do plan to hang on to the original stem but I will probably have some relief cuts put into it after a deeper inspection. Those notches as cut are definitely a stress riser and currently I don't know the quality of the casting in that area. I also scored the inside elsewhere when I broke it free from where it was frozen. I'll try to blend that out.