rithem

So I started working on my cheapo winter bike project last night and learned something new; 21.15mm steering tubes and stems existed up until the early 80's on Schwinn bikes and BMX (still std. for budget BMX bikes?). That said, I grabbed this frame off a buddy already stripped down to the frame, fork and headset ... no stem. I considered using a BMX stem because I can't seem to find a road stem in 21.15mm but I'm sure it will not be long enough. I don't want to spend money and time changing the fork and headset, I just want a 21.15 stem close to 11cm ... help or suggestions, these things seem to be MIA.

isotopesope

i have an 80's ross road bike that has a .833" stem, which is the same dimension as a 21.1 metric. i got a bit longer stem for it last winter. i'll dig through my parts to see if i still have the old one. it may have been donated to my schwinn chopper i made though; i don't remember. if not i'll just send it to you.

rithem

That would be awsome! PM me if you have it. I'll give you contact info and my FedEx#. Thanks.

treechunk

I've got a short stem in a 21.1 that you can have (if you haven't already gotten one) once I replace it with a longer one on my tallbike. I have the new stem, I've just not gotten around to putting it on. Maybe I should do that. Let me know if you still need it and I'll pop it out for ya.


Alternately you can take an old ****ty stem and file it (takes a while but it works). Just do your best to file evenly all the way around.

rithem

I'll keep it in mind. I have a few soldiers on the job here at home. If I can't come up with one in 11cm I will likely take a cheapo alloy quill to the grindah!

treechunk

aluminum clogs grinding wheels. File is better.