The bike looks great, and appears to be in good condition. So my online shopping experience has not gone ary (spelling?).
Anyways, the bike did come partly-diassembled. Front wheel and handlebars, front brakes, and wheel were removed. My bike mechanic experience has been limited to flat tires, brake adjustments and lubing. I never had to attach my handlebars before, anything specific I should keep in mind?
The center of the bar had a 1/4"x1" groove. Is this standard for handlebars? What is it used for?
Herman: Two reasons for the groove spring to mind - 1. The brake cables are laid in the groove, then taped. Less bump in the bars gives more comfortable grip. Especially suited to Aero type brake levers. 2. If the groove you mention is in the centre of the bars, where they are clamped, then it's probably there to give a better clamp area. Very often there are squeaks from a bike, which can sometimes be traced to the bars moving a little at the stem clamp. This is because the maximum clamp pressure is in the centre, right under the clamp bolt. Putting a groove here makes sense to me because it shifts the clamp pressure to a wider, (either side of the centreline), area with less chance of the handlebars working in the stem. I think that with time and use, the stem clamp inner diameter becomes wider at the sides than in the centre, simply from pulling on the bars. If one looks into an old alloy stem clamp, one can usually see the mark around the centre, which may show just how little clamping area there actually was. Cheers.
