Hi everyone,
I have a Shimano Dura-Ace quill stem (closed clamp, no faceplate) and I'm trying to fit a Deda Pista drop bar through it.
The weird thing is: I can slide the bar through the clamp if I insert it "backwards", with the stem pointing forward and the drops going the wrong way. But when I try to feed it through in the correct orientation, it gets stuck and won't pass through the clamp opening.
I've loosened the clamp bolt as much as I can, but it still won't go. I'm guessing the curve of the drops is catching on the clamp at a certain point, but only in one direction.
Is there a known trick for this? A specific angle or rotation technique to get it through? Should I remove the internal bolt entirely, is that even possible? Or is this just a compatibility issue and I should give up?
Thanks for any help!
by annuario
7 Comments
Put it in some boiling water for a bit
These 31.8 mm bars are too thick for the stem. They’ll work with an a-head style stem only. For the stem, you’ll need 25.4 mm bars.
If the clamp size of the stem lines up with the clamp diameter of the bars then by all accounts, they should fit. But given the odd nature of the stem its likely they just won’t mesh.
With a traditional quill stem, you can lever open the clap a little to finagle the bars in, here you don’t have that option.
Unless someone more knowledgeable is more helpful, I’d chalk this up to incompatibility and get a new stem.
These Deda Piega bars have a compact shape and are famously difficult to get through quill stems compared to traditonal drops. With a lot of stems you can pry them open but since that design prevents that it might just never happen with that combo. Even if you do force it though it’s likely to scratch up the bars. A steel stem that you can wedge open (ITM Eclypse, 3T Pro Chrome) will give you a better chance with those bars.
https://www.sim.works/products/nitto-handlebar-installer?srsltid=AfmBOop6i4X3W3FuXwEMFB91sRs6PBUMLpCBUk7FniOuN8te6vafMk5s
You are getting some real bad advice here. These compact bend bars usually can’t fit through those one-bolt stems. The bends are just too tight for that. That’s why older bars had rounder bends. These shallow drops were made possible by faceplate stems.
Modern bars are made with tighter, lower radius curves & it makes mixing them with cool older stems like that a huge pain in the ass. I know this because I have fought this fight lol.
In terms of getting it on I sadly don’t really have a trick for you – just gotta spin the stem around to try at every single angle, & decide how much cosmetic damage to the finish of the bars you’re comfortable with.
You want the narrowest section of the stem clamp to face inwards towards the tightest angle of the handlebar curve. Sometimes that’s not possible though, because of the rest of the stem & the handlebars get in the way. Those DA stems are just tricky.