gmason

I searched, looked at all 190 titles, and about 15 of the threads with "quill+stem" in them. I am about to start looking around the Web. In the meantime ...

My original road bike was built with an intentionally tall head tube on the assumption that I was an old man and would have to sit up straighter. Well now I am even older, and find with my new bike that I actually am better off with the bar lower. I have a circa 2000 TTT on there now, as far down as it can go, and a note on the spec sheet from the builder that says "90X". Other than that, I can't find a name for it.

To set the old bike up the way I want it now, I need a quill stem that puts the top of the bar about 3 cm lower than the top of the head tube. In other words, the angle between the section of the stem in the head tube and the section holding the bar has to be pretty sharp.

And just to make it harder, I want one that has a removeable cap or one that hinges so that I can simply move the bar into it without completely stripping the bar first.

Any ideas while I am out looking?

Thanks.

sydney

I don't know of a quill stem that has greater than the traditional -17 angle.

EURO

A track stem is the way forward. Nitto would be a brand to look at



OR, you could get a quill to threadless converter and an adjustable threadless stem.

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...ype=&estoreid=)

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/Default.aspx...2213&UberCat=0

sydney

And what's the angle on a 'track' stem??

gmason

I measured it, and that is mine too.

Of course, if I could get one with about a 40 cm reach ...

MichaelW

How about a Look ergostem, Salsa or Bikyle custom stem.

gmason

Probably similar. Everything I have found touts their ability to raise the bar a long way.

I am already thinking about a threadless adapter. Looks like it might work, but then I will need a threadless stem to lower the bar. I have seen some pretty radical angles on threadless stems, so that might work.

rjtokyo

Hey gmason. How about flipping an ATB stem? This one is Nashbar's which will give you -40 degrees and will also let you remove the bar without having to strip it:


Good luck!

- RJ

EURO

Nitto's Jaguar track stems are 58 degree or 65 degree.


Your best bet if you are careful about fit.

gmason

That looks like the right idea. May I assume that there are several marques out there?


I understood the comment by sydney to mean the complementary angle: 90 - 17 = 73 degrees because I measured mine, and got a rough 70 degrees with the stem insert itself flat on my desk and measuring along the axis of the stem extension as best I could (rough in any case). Was that correct? If so, then the Nittos are even flatter given your examples, aren't they? They actually look it from the pics you posted.

tlupfer

rjtokyo

You should be able to find a decent variety of rise (and therefore also negative) angles as well as stem lengths and marques. I mentioned ATB stems as opposed to road stems as that is where you'll find the steepest angles.

Cheers! - RJ

gmason

tlupfer - that surely looks like more of an angle than in the Nitto pix, but perhaps not.

In any case, it appears that the top of the bar in your pic is almost exactly at the height of the top of the headset. My stem leaves me just a few mm short of that - I need to gain (well, actually lose, I guess) another 2-3 cm.

gmason

There actually is an alternative, but I have not wanted to think about it. Having the head tube cut down.

Here is a pic of the head tube. It looks as though there is actually lug all the way to the headset. I assume that the head tube itself is fully sleeved in the lug, or at least to where removing 2-3 cm would fall.

rjtokyo

Since you mentioned alternatives, how about one more...

Go with a threadless fork and a low rise headset. That may drop you down about 1 cm and you won't have to mess with getting a threadless adapter. Then put on an inverted ATB stem at -40 degress and with that you may be close to the 2-3cm drop you're looking for???

- RJ

gmason

That is certainly another way to go. But as this is my "beater" bike, I wanted to keep the cost down as low as possible. I will probably only be using it in the wet.

Thanks to you (and to everyone else too) for all of your helpful responses!

roadfix

Note: Standard track stems will not accept standard 26mm road bars unless you pry the crap outa stem to install them.

gmason

Well put a handle in my back and call me dummy...

It rained tons last night, so today I took my backup bike (can't really call it a "beater" in good conscience) for a ride. First time since I got the Casati, about five months or so ago. I spent quite a while in the drops, and thought this is actually pretty comfortable. When I got home, partially because of the Ergo or Curve poll, in which I participated, I decided to measure both bikes. But this time, instead of saddle to bar top, I measured saddle to drop top.

I am glad that I didn't decide how to handle this conversion yet, because that measurement actually gives me a little more depth if I want it when in the drops because of the strange ergo shape of the bar. The flat is pretty short, but is certainly enough.

Can you say duh?