Anyone have any tips on installing drop bars in stems to avoid scratching the handlbars? Is it common practice to spread the stem to allow better clearance? Would a coating of grease help at all?

IMHO- I would not spread the stem. Opening the bolt and rotating the bars through the stem carefully works. Be patient.

+1 Patience is the way to be with C&V.

i disagree with patience. it doesn't always work.

use a screwdriver to slightly pry open the stem. this definitely helps get bars in with less scratches, although i don't think ive ever been able to do it without a scratch.

remember, the inside of the bar curve goes towards the stem bolt area.

That's why there are hammers and vice grips.

Seriously, if patience doesn't work....it means you are not using it enough

Here's my piece of advice. Spend the $20 and buy yourself the most useful tool in any mechanic's arsenal: a stem and seatpost spreader.

https://www.mtnbikes.net/cal-vanstemspreader.aspx

This tool saves my butt on a bikely basis, keeping all of the show bikes free of unsightly gashes, and it DEFINITELY helped even on my modern seatpost from MOOTS.

Well, Nitto makes an expensive pry bar for the purpose of spreading stem clamps, and you can do the same thing with careful use of a screwdriver or a small nail puller:



Neal

We're talking about aluminum, right? That makes me nervous. Oh well, I guess, if they make a tool for it, it must be OK...

I just lived with scratched bars. Embrace imperfection. Plus I own very few bike parts that I would be afraid of giving minor damage.

Most stems have slighly angled cuts to the clamp area (usually at the bottom of the clamp, that will let you manuever the bar bends through without any jamming. try looking for these angled notches and slowly slip the bar through. These cuts will let the inside of the curve go through because it shortens the clamping tube in that area. I have not run across a bar that won't go through a stem without any spreading of the clamp. It is not to say that there could be bars out there with more severe bends (ergo bars) that might require spreading if there is no way it would go through.

Chombi

You can also spread the stem without any chance of leaving a mark by inseting a large phillips screwdriver in the bolt hole and pulling back.

Obviously, if Nitto makes a tool to spread their stems it's okay to do it.

The problem it not getting the bar through the stem. It's done the way Chombi desribes and I think that anyone who has spent much time working on bikes knows it.. The problem is when you get to the larger clamp area. You often have to spread the stem or leave marks on the bar at that point.

Don't you use bar tape?
Rotating it the right way does make a big difference.

Well, you don't cover the sleeves on the bars, and I usually stop at the bulge on new ergo bars.

If anyone has tried putting a Cinelli 1A stem on a set of Cinelli bars, I think they can understand the OP's frustration.

I thin coating of grease doesn't hurt, but I use a wooden wedge angled just for this purpose. You don't need to pry it far to get it over the sleeve. I have found that going in from the roght side on a Cinelli, with the stem rotated back about 90* helps, but that may be just anecdotal to my experiences.

Just last week I faced this with a bike I built for my wife, and had to swap the stem out for a different length after the initial build, so I had to do it twice without scratching the center sleeve.

I didn't think my post would get this many responses, thanks for those, and I had no idea that there are actually tools available that were designed specifically for this purpose. The Cal-Van stem spreader looks like a snap ring pliers. Does this tool actually work?

To clarify, I am speaking of a stem stem, not aluminum. I plan on installing a set of 22mm steel drop barss into a Raleigh stem typically found on the 3 speed Sports models.

Yes, it works. It works extremely well.

I wouldn't use snap ring pliers just because I already own a Cal-Van, and it has a larger "platform" than snap ring pliers.

All you need is a long m5 bolt with two nuts, and perhaps a few matching washers to make a stem spreader.

The bolt goes through the stem with the nuts and washers in the middle... back the nuts away from each other and this will spread the stem just a little and hold it that way while you are installing the bars.

My friend and I figured this out the other day when we were extracting a Cinelli bar from a Nitto stem.

Not all stems are made as well as Nittos... would have to consider whether the stem in question cold handle this and would not do it with say... an Ava.

I use dish soap... .I don't know if it helps but it does make me feel better.

I slip a thin jam nut and a piece of sheet metal in the clamp slot and run a bolt in from the front, the bolt goes through the unthreaded hole of the stem, engages the jam nut then the end of the bolt drives against the sheet metal gently prying and holding the clamp open while you slip the bars through.

I do this. Makes life alot easier.

I am having trouble envisioning this procedure. You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the tool in use, by any chance. I would like to find something that works better than my home made pry bar, which actually works but is a bit awkward to use.

Me too.

I'm trying to envision how you would cram all of that hardware into a space no wider than 3/16".

Will have to set this up and take a picture...

Exactly what he said.

That will get the stem past the bends in the bar as anyone who has ever changed bars knows, but how does it help when you get to the clamp area?