Stem Question: Danger?

Ride-A-Lot said:

I have a fork that was given to me. It was cut to 7", but it was free.
The headtube on the bike is 5". With the headset and stem on it, it
comes up short in the stem by about 1/2", leaving the stem covering
1.25" of the steertube.

This fork is 85mm and I have another with an uncut tube at 120mm. I
think the 120mm is going to through the geometry on a hardtail way off,
or will it?

The question is, if I use the 85mm with the short tube, will the stem be
attached strong enough or am I risking some serious injury?

I for one wouldn't dream of riding the bike like that. It's normal to
have 2-3mm short (about 1/8" max), but with a 1/2" gap, it's going to
allow "some" potential movement. It's not going to kill you all at
once, but could stress the stem and cause it to deform.

You might be able to find a stem that has a shorter clamp - that'd
help. And some headsets are shorter than others - you can get back at
least a few mm that way.

Going to a 120mm would change the handling of your bike all right. It
won't make it "horrible" but it'll certainly feel different when
you're out of the saddle on a steep climb (not better), but will feel
better bombing down a steep descent. I've got a RockShox 80-125mm
Psylo on my own bike, and play around with the length all the time...
anything between 80 and 100 feels great, and 120mm is a little sloppy,
but still "plenty good", at least for the riding I do. YMMV.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have a fork that was given to me. It was cut to 7", but it was free.
The headtube on the bike is 5". With the headset and stem on it, it
comes up short in the stem by about 1/2", leaving the stem covering
1.25" of the steertube.

This fork is 85mm and I have another with an uncut tube at 120mm. I
think the 120mm is going to through the geometry on a hardtail way off,
or will it?

The question is, if I use the 85mm with the short tube, will the stem be
attached strong enough or am I risking some serious injury?

I've been running my commuter with only one inch of steerer into two inches
of stem for the last four years without any complaints. The bike has
recently become a fixie so the stem has been getting a bit of a workout.
It's a two bolt stem so I make sure the bottom bolt is done up tight and the
top just tight enough not to come undone. This saves the stem getting
stressed around the top of the steerer.

Duncan said:

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have a fork that was given to me. It was cut to 7", but it was free.
The headtube on the bike is 5". With the headset and stem on it, it
comes up short in the stem by about 1/2", leaving the stem covering
1.25" of the steertube.

This fork is 85mm and I have another with an uncut tube at 120mm. I
think the 120mm is going to through the geometry on a hardtail way off,
or will it?

The question is, if I use the 85mm with the short tube, will the stem be
attached strong enough or am I risking some serious injury?

I've been running my commuter with only one inch of steerer into two inches
of stem for the last four years without any complaints. The bike has
recently become a fixie so the stem has been getting a bit of a workout.
It's a two bolt stem so I make sure the bottom bolt is done up tight and the
top just tight enough not to come undone. This saves the stem getting
stressed around the top of the steerer.

On this stem, both of the bolts still surround the tube.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

I wouldn't have the tube no more then 5 mm below the
top of the stem. And the star nut 3-5 mm down from the top of the tube.
See if the tube is one of the easy exchange kind.You set in by a few set
screws (allen head screws). I have a Noleen Chubby with this set up.

Which stem are you using?
I had an old steel Titec stem that was modeled after the steel Salsa
stems. The clamp height was minimal, roughly 1.25.
/s

Quoted message said:

Which stem are you using?
I had an old steel Titec stem that was modeled after the steel Salsa
stems. The clamp height was minimal, roughly 1.25.
/s

I think it;s a raceface prodigy.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have a fork that was given to me. It was cut to 7", but it was free. The
headtube on the bike is 5". With the headset and stem on it, it comes up
short in the stem by about 1/2", leaving the stem covering 1.25" of the
steertube.

This fork is 85mm and I have another with an uncut tube at 120mm. I think
the 120mm is going to through the geometry on a hardtail way off, or will
it?

The question is, if I use the 85mm with the short tube, will the stem be
attached strong enough or am I risking some serious injury?

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

I wouldn't!!