Nope. Not dumb. The center of the bars (where the stem clamps) might be the right diameter. The part of the bars you hold may be narrower.
AgitatedBarracuda134 on
Did some shims come in the box with the bars?
stoat_toad on
That’s weird. Got a vernier caliper or a micrometer? Even a nice ruler would work. Shims are fine. Maybe there is a manufacturer labelling screwup somewhere.
Legitimate_Spring on
Is the stem clamp 31.8, or the stem itself? On my bike, the clamp diameter is wider than the stem diameter.
Edit: mine is threaded, tho– not sure if they’re usually the same for threadless
Spinocchio on
There should be shims.
MookieFlav on
Those look like 25.4 bars, maybe 26.0, but definitely not 31.8
Templeofhoon on
What bars?
SkiChicago on
Obviously something here is the wrong size. Do you possibly have a newer mountain bike stem that’s a 35cm instead of 31.8?
TheGreenestOfBeans on
Vernier Calipers should be an essential bike mechanic tool. Take out the guess work and measure. Lots of cheap digital ones available.
If you don’t have any, gently put it in a vice and measure the gap using a ruler.
9 Comments
Nope. Not dumb. The center of the bars (where the stem clamps) might be the right diameter. The part of the bars you hold may be narrower.
Did some shims come in the box with the bars?
That’s weird. Got a vernier caliper or a micrometer? Even a nice ruler would work. Shims are fine. Maybe there is a manufacturer labelling screwup somewhere.
Is the stem clamp 31.8, or the stem itself? On my bike, the clamp diameter is wider than the stem diameter.
Edit: mine is threaded, tho– not sure if they’re usually the same for threadless
There should be shims.
Those look like 25.4 bars, maybe 26.0, but definitely not 31.8
What bars?
Obviously something here is the wrong size. Do you possibly have a newer mountain bike stem that’s a 35cm instead of 31.8?
Vernier Calipers should be an essential bike mechanic tool. Take out the guess work and measure. Lots of cheap digital ones available.
If you don’t have any, gently put it in a vice and measure the gap using a ruler.