missej

So, I ride a 43cm bike and because of this my stem can only go so low. I'm looking for an extra short stem (not angle, rise, or reach) the quill part. Does any company make one? Currently I have a Nitto Pearl Stem which apparently has 70mm of quill length. I found one on ebay that was 65mm of quill length and it made little difference. Here's what it looks like for reference:

(it doesn't look too terribly awkward/uncomfortable, but it is because my seat isn't raised very high. the woes of being short)

thanks.

baxtefer

cut it.

crushkilldstroy

but only after you find a correct length bolt.

danish

yeah chop saw at the MINIMUM INSERTION point.

that phrase makes me giggle like a school girl.

mander

Not necessarily. Someone with a tap and die set and a hacksaw can cut down your current bolt and cut the threads in farther. If your bike coop is any good they ought to have the tools. It's dead easy to do too, if we were in the same city i could meet up with you at a coffee shop and mod your existing bolt in three minutes out on the sidewalk. This is one of the many reasons i think everyone serious about bike mechanicing ought to have taps and dies.
Cheap tap and die set: $20-30.
mastery of all that is threaded: priceless.

missej

This all sounds like a good plan except that I live in South Carolina so there is no bike co-op, and I don't know anyone with a tap and die set. Thanks though.

trons

i have a 46 (essentially the same size headtube) that i could fit a cinelli 1e stem into all the way... see the second pic: https://velospace.org/node/352

BostonFixed

Machine shops or Auto shops or the like should have a tap/die set.

thatcher

get that angle right when you cut it too. made that mistake before

mander

Mechanically oriented dads are a good source also. Anyone who fixes cars a lot might have one.

danish

cut the bolt straight and you can file it to make the nut go on as long as there is enough thread.

the angle of the stem cut is pretty important but you can make that work too especially if you have a grinder. i cut a super long nitto stem imperfectly and "made it work" and haven't had any problems in a year.

get yourself a couple of cheap stems and experiment.

missej

Where did you get your stem?

trons

ebay.. older cinelli stems usually have a 26.4 clamp though which may or may not be a problem for you. shimming from 26.0 should work fine but 25.4 will probably not work very well. i lucked out and got a 26.0 cinelli stem.
still, you might just be better off getting some cheapo stem and chopping it..

coelcanth

get a nice stem and chop it..
your nitto would be a good candidate since it uses a wedge-type expander; easier to replicate than the cinelli-type..

get an m6 x 1.0mm die and thread the unthreaded portion of the bolt if you run out of threads

then you will be the first person you know with a custom stem + thread cutting tools

swampy

You could try an old Control Tech quill stem, not sure exactly how short the quill is but it is the shortest production quill that I ever had. About 3 - 3 1/2". The shortest they ever made, however, was a 90mm length, so might be too long.

Fugazi Dave

I also have this problem with my track bike. It's a 52cm, but the headtube is still only about 4 inches long (if that). I figure I'm going to try re-cutting a stem so that the quill portion is shorter, but only once I've found another usable dumpster-stem that I can butcher so as not to put a better stem at risk of saw-induced death. I haven't run into any stems that come that short from the factory, unfortunately.

jetbike

Hey, count your chooks and be happy.

I'm 6'1" (and tons of fun) and will never, ever find some ex-keirin bargain on ebay. If I did buy one I'd look like a clown on a tiny bike.

Tiny dudes and ladies get all the good stuff. Not to mention turn-ups on their jeans.

imetazoa

does anyone know if a LBS can do this? if not, any suggestions of places to look for this cutting and threading service?

mathletics

Check Yellow Jersey or Harris, if you want to order it online. They both do their own fabrications, and may do custom stuff.

mander

Any machine shop should be able to do it, no prob, as long as you explain clearly what has to be done. It would also be a piece of cake for a framebuilder, a good lbs mechanic, or even just a random guy or gal with a nice workshop. All you need to do it right is a mitre box, hacksaw blade and possibly a tap and die set.

nightfly

A cheap tap and die set is probably less than you'll end up spending on a comparably nice stem. Those Nitto's are really nice.

I just did this to a stem and it wasn't that hard. Fortunately my dad is one of those people with a tap and die set and a grinder. You can cut the stem with a hacksaw or a Dremmel tool (I think that's what we used). The Dremmel makes it fairly easy to mimic the angle of the cut (hack saw tends to slip around). You can just use a file to clean up the cut, though a grinder is nice.