reggieob

So I'm swapping out a couple pair of bent bars on my Schwinn Sports Tourers (73 & 74) with new Nitto B135 Randonneur bars and noticed something odd while centering them in the stems: the stamped/engraved horizontal lines that I typically center my bars with are not exactly in the center of the sleeve/shim that the stem clamps on to.

If I center the stem with an equal amount of these lines/ribs showing out on either side of the stem clamp (like I normally do), the bar is not properly centered and is off by a small bit. If I measure and place the clamp in the measured center of the sleeve, the stamped lines on the bar are only visible on one side of the clamp, giving it a lopsided appearance (even if it is centered properly as measured). I have three new pair of these bars, and all have the similar issue. Guessing these must fall within the acceptable quality control range at the Nitto plant, which surprises me as I really like their stems and bars and they seem to be high quality.

The question then - would you center these so they are dead-on per measurement (giving an odd visual appearance) or center by the lines so they look right, but are actually a bit off. Not a huge deal or one that would affect ride quality I'd guess, but still an annoyance. Maybe I'm the only one who has noticed this? I've gotten way too detail-focused lately...

reggieob

This probably illustrates what I'm talking about better - a shot of the bars at the actual measured center:

The Golden Boy 

You'll probably need to re-take that pic from a little farther out.

I think I understand what you're saying, but without showing the ends of the sleeve- the pic just shows that your bars aren't centered.

jimmuller 

Ask yourself what is it that makes them not centered when the engraving aroudn the clamp is centered. It could be that the two sides of the bar are not symmetrically bent. I had an SR rando bar which had one side flared more than the other. It showed no sign of having undergone significant trauma, just wasn't symmetric. Judicious use of a 2x4 fixed it easily.

The Golden Boy 

By the way- I'd center them so the lines are centered, and then conceal the ends of the sleeves by finishing the bar wrap with electrical tape so it appears even.

Velocivixen

I understand your concern about the visuals of the bike, however would centering the bars "off center" by measurement affect riding/steering? I think after awhile you might not notice it. Just be a quirk of this particular handlebar.

reggieob

Good points. To clarify - in the picture, the distance from the edge of the stem to the end of the sleeve on each side is exactly the same, making it "centered," even though the lines are off.

To me , it looks like the lines were etched a little off-center when the bars were made. This must be typical of these, as all three sets I own show this as well. Perhaps they are made strictly for added grip with modern threadless stems in mind, which would hide most of the lines anyway?

Sir_Name 

Try measuring from both the marking center and sleeve center (what's pictured above) to the outter edge of the bars or some other outboard reference point as the bend allows to see 'what' is off center - stamping, sleeve, or bend. Won't make much of a difference I guess, but it's something. A 2x4 and the muller technique may help if the outward bend (L->R) is the issue and it bothers you enough to start bending Aluminum (not sure if I would, depends on your exact situation). Odd to have three with the same problem. Were they purchased around the same time (indicating a possible iffy batch)?


...or try Door #2 : which can you live with better, having the bars centered, or the markings centered around the stem? Looks like it's only off by a few mm, so I doubt the difference is perceptible.

Other than this slight, how do you like the bars?

Lascauxcaveman 

Actually, you're OK as long as your left arm is a couple mm longer than your right.

Sir_Name 

Ah, the Flanders Leftorium edition.

trailmix

You have 3 sets and they all are off-center? Just curious, were all 3 purchased at the same time? If they were all purchased together, they may have had a funky batch or something like that. I have a set of B135 and a 2 sets of B132 and have never noticed any of them being off-center. Now I want to go to the garage and start measuring stuff, thanks.

reggieob

All three were purchased over the last 4 months or so - possible they are from the same batch I suppose. If I look at the underside of the bars, the etched lines hit the two cutouts in the sleeve in different places, while the cutouts seem to be centered. This seems to indicate that the lines were just etched a little bit off, with the bars being ok otherwise. Certainly the old Schwinn stem isn't perfectly symmetrical either.

I think I will just center it on the lines - can't imagine it will make any difference riding and at least it won't look wonky. I love Nitto's bars and stems, so was surprised to see this kind of lack of attention to detail!

gaucho777 

Having off-center grooves would bother me. Personally, I think it's more important to have the contact points equidistant from the stem rather than having the grooves appear aligned properly. So, if choosing between two evils, I'd rather know my hands were aligned. I'd probably just live with it if I had only one installed bar like that. But you have three new extras waiting in the wings and you are certain the grooves are not aligned evenly on the sleeve? If that's the case, I might contact Nitto about that and see if they would be willing to replace those three bars for you before you install them.

due ruote 

On the one hand, it seems like a really trivial matter. But I can see why you're vexed. In the pic you posted, it's apparent that the grooves are closer to the right crest than they are to the left. So if you center on the grooves, the crests will not be equidistant from the stem clamp (also one side of the sleeve would be longer than the other). To me, that would be worse. Assuming the crests are in the right places, I'd be inclined to center the bar and not worry about the grooves. If it's a 25.4 bar you could use a 26.0 stem and use a shim that covers the grooves. Just throwing out ideas.

reggieob

Thanks for the thoughts and for blowing up the pic - the grooves are pretty clearly nearer to the one side. If I keep these bars in there I'll have to choose to go one way or the other with them, or maybe split the difference. Tempted to order another set of bars from an out-of-town dealer (different batch?) and see if they are better. The one I have uninstalled is a bit better than this one, so worst case I could swap those. Just a weird little thing I guess - the grooves are clearly added at a different time that the crests and vary as they wrap around the bar.

79pmooney

To my mind, all that really matters is the distance from outside of bar to centerline of stem. I don't look at my stem when I am riding. So I would measure that and mark that point on the sleeve. Now center that in the stem. Which is correct - the reference marks or the sleeve? It could be that the tooling to install the sleeve is out of spec, so the sleeve is going on off center, the the tooling to stamp the pattern is right. Or vice versa. But until you measure from the outsides of the bars, you will not know.

Ben