old schwinn help

aramos2 said:

i have a 77 sierra schwinn i am clueless on how to connect the handle bars / stem to the frame i dont understand i just have this long bolt with a nut

There were two main ways in which old quill stems locked into the fork steerer. One used a wedge that fit into a hollow portion of the stem and the other used a wedge-shaped nut that slid at an angle to the lower portion of the stem quill that had a corresponding angle. Try finding an older bike maintenance manual such as that by Eugene Sloane at a public library.

Or post a picture here of what your stem/bar looks like for some specific advice.

If your nut is wedge shaped it should fit the corresponding angled surface at the bottom of the stem. The stem is inserted into the steerer tube and the bolt is tightened, causing the nut to wedge against the stem and into the steerer tube. At a minimum put some oil or grease on the threads, wedge surfaces, and outside of the stem and wedge nut, but the right stuff to use is antisieze lube.

i.e. what you have: that's all there's supposed to be.

My answer assumes you have stock, disassembled components. You may of course have a different kind of stem which was not designed to go on that fork.