Originally Posted by
Trakhak
And in addition to merziac's good advice, look closely at the bar and stem to check for scars or cracks. If you see any, it would be best to replace both parts. Drop bars and stems in 25.4 would be old tech at this point, and yours are probably ready to be replaced anyway if the bike was ridden a decent amount over the years.
This
As a lifelong mech/tech/hack including pro on cars I always assume this goes without saying and forget that anybody that hasn't done this sort of thing for a living doesn't.
And the internet doesn't help as a first line of defense without skill and experience to back it up.
