Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Steering

So since the existing steering stem was a bit shorter than I wanted...

I had to make my own!  That started with cutting a piece of 7/8" tube stock to the length I want and cutting the end at an angle to create a wedge.  I then used a typical wedge piece on the new extended stem (which took some work to get the right angle) - see photos below:



Then I needed to extend the rod bolt that connects to the wedge along with adding a new bar stem and bars (which I obtained from the Bicycle Kitchen - thanks to them for what they do, it's an amazing place).  I did this by welding a piece of rod in the middle of the ends of the original rod bolt.  Eventually I got the wedge to work and the bar stem to clamp on the new tube stock.

Everything works great! Now I can't wait to put on my fancy grips!  ...waiting till I'm done so I don't get them dirty.