so the stem on my Marin is an adjustable angle stem..... it says "C5" on it and has the bear logo which i can only assume is the Marin logo?

in any case, i can't find ANYTHING on google about it, and i can't figure out how to adjust the angle. i would just flip it but its basically straight right now.

it says "elastic assist release" on it, which on google (exact phrase) turns up like 3 results? idek

here are some photos

It looks like you can put different size allen wrenches in both sides, loosen, adjust and then tighten.

I've seen these,but never played with one. I believe you put a hex key in one side to hold the bolt and loosen the other side until the stem moves. Try it and see what happens. If you have a local shop that sells Marin(some REI's do as well) you could try asking them.

the only thing that i can put a hex key into is the bolt that goes through..... that's it. really puzzling. it almost seems like i'm supposed to loosen it a little bit, then push on it to get the other side to pop out. there is a spring inside where the bolt goes..... can't get anything to budge though.

got it, i was right. they want you to unscrew the bolt halfway and then push it so the cap on the other side comes out. though i don't understand how they expected human hands to do such a thing - i had to hammer it out.

and yeah the little spring in there obviously didn't have the power to push the caps out lol. "elastic assist release" yeah right.

EDIT: on second thought, yeah i guess the spring was supposed to do the work so when you unscrew it it just pops out.

anyway, on another note, how bad is it that i'm probably not going to retension my headset bearings?

Changing your stem angle shouldn't have any effect on your headset bearings.

well as you may not have noticed, i did take the whole stem off... read somewhere that i'm supposed to retension them.

Just a question...why would you not "retension" your headset bearings?

It is a quick and easy job that usually only requires a 5mm and/or 4mm allen key. If you like proper steering and don't want premature wear/failure of your headset then resetting the preload of the bearings is essential.

Park Tools and youtube have tutorials on how to do it properly.

-j

Well, if there's one thing the internet isn't short on it's instructions and videos showing how to retension your headset. It's certainly simpler and quicker than adjusting that stem anyway!

I hope you're not going for the 50 degree stem angle!

LOL nope i actually flipped it, so it's the equivalent of -30 i guess? (was only supposed to go to -10)