Originally Posted by
Chicago Al
Thanks BG! I guess that makes sense. [Loud clank as Al's appreciation of 80s Japanese manufacturing drops a notch.] Was the sleeve originally attached to the actual bar, maybe epoxy or something? Otherwise it seems like a self-defeating cost-cutting measure.
Wife's '83 Shogun has similar bars but not the 'RANDNNER' variation and the bar is tight inside the sleeve. You'd never know it wasn't one piece, though I will admit I didn't actually try to break it loose. I guess I just 'broke' mine, me and my 50-y-o 5'6" 160 lb massive upper body strength!
Blame the Italians! Most bars, especially top end ones back then were made that way. I have a Cinelli Giro D'Italia, Campione del Mondo and several other Cinellis that are made that way. I also have a recent Nitto track bar made that way. None of them have ever failed. I don't think this is a cheap way to make a bar. Quite the contrary, it would be a lot simpler to just extrude a single piece of tubing into varying diameters to give you a larger center section. The center sleeve gives you a much thicker bar in the clampling area, which is less likely to crush if you overighten the stem. It also reduces the bending stress in the middle of the bar where the bending moment is highest. It sounds to me like your specific bar is defective and the sleeve was never tight enough to begin with.