handlebar help needed
 

i have a 1973 Raleigh Sprint (by serial number) - all original - with bent handlebar. i tried to fit a Sunlight North Road bar, but the center section swells to 1" diameter (rest of the bar is 7/8"). i spread the stem casting as far as i dare without cracking the part or the plating, but it was not enough to get the bar in.not wishing to start replacing more original parts unnecessarily.

Q: how much stretch will the stem take? or is there a full 7/8" bar of this style available?


thanks

What you are trying to do is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, the 7/8" is 22mm, this will never fit a 1 inch 25.4mm stem.

Would do two things, get a vernier caliper to verify the measurements, and then once confirmed search for 25.4mm handelbars and purchase the stye of this that you like.

Or you could look at replacing the stem with one which would fit your bars, Nitto make nice ones.

The stem won't take any stretch because it's accurately sized and there's no room for anything larger than what it was designed.

However, to my knowledge All bars have a bulge or sleeve in the center, including, I'm almost certain the one you removed. This is necessary partly to increase strength, but mainly because to provide added clearance to slip the bar through until you got to the clamping area.

For certain, your stem clamp diameter is larger than 7/8", though it's possible that you bought a replacement with the wrong (larger) clamp diameter than the original. Common clamp diameters are 1" (25.4mm) 26mm, 1-1/4" (31.8mm).

Measure the clamp diameter of your original bar, compare that to the replacement, and if they're different, buy a new bar that matches your old one.

a bar that is 7/8" thru-out is a BMX type, but the purpose and thus, bend is way different.

thanks for the input. tells me that (a) i bought the wrong size bars & (b) it was a good thing i stopped spreading the stem when i did. i bought this bike to learn on, so it's serving it's purpose!

Learning on bikes can be a lot of fun. I would go out tomorrow and buy a $10 digital caliper (they are on sale at Harbor Freight). Accurately measuring part sizes is very important on vintage bikes. And without an accurate measurement, you will not be able to get the right parts (OK, you could get lucky a few times).

+1 on the digital caliper.

Some will give you decimal inches, fractional inches and decimal metric -- very handy.

I bought one of these a couple years ago and LOVE them; just as accurate as my high-dollar steel dial calipers but MUCH more flexible since they give inches, fractions AND metric. The batteries last for eons (the achillies heel of many inexpensive calipers) and I can't say enough good about them.

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/C025013.htm

I bought them thinking they would be pretty cheesy and accurate enough for woodworking but not much else. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well they work. I found that I like the light weight, and since they are light and cheap they are always out on the bench so they get used often.

My $0.02. We are fortunate to have many options for inexpensive calipers; the important thing is to pick one and use it.

-Tom in SoCal

I suspect the clamp area is 15/16" not 1", apparently some older Raleighs used them. Either you need a new stem (easy to find), or compatible bars (easy for me because I have a bike shop full of old Raleigh parts down the road from me, may not be so easy for you)

yes. equipped with the suggested dial caliper, i measured the original bar at 22.2 mm and the center of the bar at 23.8 mm. the center measured differently around because the stem clamp had forced it out of round.

but the exercise did reinforce that my new Sunlite North Road bars are not going into the original stem.

anybody have a good lead on Raleigh replacement bars in the US?

thanks

eBay is probably your best bet, if it weren't for my LBS having stuff like that, that's what I'd have to do. As I recall, Sheldon just suggests replacing the stem if you need to replace the bars, but if you're trying to keep it original, you'll probably have to go with drop bars, as North Roads in 15/16" clamp are likely to be sufficiently rare as to be unobtainable, even if you had them shipped from the UK.