Frozen stem

savispud said:

Dear All.
I have just finished packing my bike for an air flight. I wonder how
they will damage it this time.
I was unable to turn the handlebars due to an aluminum stem being
frozen into the steel frame. I took to a bike shop and they were
unable to do anything with it. I read something in Sheldon Browns
website suggesting that Ammonium or a freezing it with a CO2 cartridge
might help. I'll try the first when I get home and the bike shop said
that it had had no luck with the later. I tried putting an ice pack
around it for 30 minutes to no effect.
My work around was to strip one side of the handle bar and pull it out
of the stem.
Would anyone have any suggestions that don't involve taking a hacksaw
to the stem?

AIUI just spraying gaseous CO2 on it will have sod all difference.
You really need to chill the aluminium quite a bit to get it to
contract inside the steel. I've heard there's a freezing kit for
working on water pipes without turning the water off, it freezes the
water into a plug of ice at -20C. That might just work. The
alternative is to get hold of some liquid nitrogen and use that. Do
you have a university physics department near you?

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck

You can get Freezer sprays from electrical component vendors, e.g. Maplin
see:- http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=re77j&source=15&SD=Y
for cooling to -50C

Cheers
Jim J

Jim said:

You can get Freezer sprays from electrical component vendors, e.g. Maplin
see:- http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=re77j&source=15&SD=Y
for cooling to -50C

Or rent a pipe chiller from your local hire shop. Designed to freeze an
ice plug into copper pipes so you can effect a repair without turning
the water off and draining the system. Chills pretty cold.

Tony

Tony Raven said:

Jim said:

You can get Freezer sprays from electrical component vendors, e.g. Maplin
see:-http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=re77j&source=15&SD=Y
for cooling to -50C

Or rent a pipe chiller from your local hire shop. Designed to freeze an
ice plug into copper pipes so you can effect a repair without turning
the water off and draining the system. Chills pretty cold.

Tony

Have you heard of Ryanair accepting unboxed bikes? I mean turn the
pedals and handlebars are bubble wrap the rear mech but leave the
wheels on?

Dear Jim,
promising suggestion and cheap. I'll give it a try.
Thanks
"Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

You can get Freezer sprays from electrical component vendors, e.g. Maplin
see:- http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=re77j&source=15&SD=Y
for cooling to -50C

Cheers
Jim J

the freezer spray had no effect. It is beginning to look like the a hack saw
and file job - sigh!
"savispud" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dear All.
I have just finished packing my bike for an air flight. I wonder how
they will damage it this time.
I was unable to turn the handlebars due to an aluminum stem being
frozen into the steel frame. I took to a bike shop and they were
unable to do anything with it. I read something in Sheldon Browns
website suggesting that Ammonium or a freezing it with a CO2 cartridge
might help. I'll try the first when I get home and the bike shop said
that it had had no luck with the later. I tried putting an ice pack
around it for 30 minutes to no effect.
My work around was to strip one side of the handle bar and pull it out
of the stem.
Would anyone have any suggestions that don't involve taking a hacksaw
to the stem?
Thanks.
Neil .