Getting a stem true.

lbalony

This may be daft but since I have gone short on a stem. I can not for the life of me get it bang on. Its either very slightly left or right. Longer stems are easy. Where am I going wrong?

Regards leon

Chunkers1980

Not trying harder!

arthur_scrimshaw

Put a straight edge across the fork yoke or stanchions, use this as a visual cue when aligning the bars.

lbalony

Fork Yoke? Whats one of them?? Good idea with the flat surface across the stanchions! If only could remember who I lent my 1m spirit level too.

cooldad

Or just line it up with the tyre. It's not rocket science.

njee20

A friend of mine used to take the front wheel out and rest the bike on its front - the dropouts and the grips. As long as your bars are straight in the stem it'll work. I turn the bars 90 degrees and use the centreline of the tyre tread with the slot in the back of the stem.

arthur_scrimshaw

lbalony wrote:

Fork Yoke? Whats one of them?? Good idea with the flat surface across the stanchions! If only could remember who I lent my 1m spirit level too.

the casting/forging that holds the stanchions and the steerer tube.

ilovedirt

Not having my stem straight REALLY annoys me, I just fiddle with it until it is... njee20's first idea sounds good.

rockmonkeysc

Line up the bars visually with the tops of the fork stanchions. It's easy with single crown. Gets a lot more more tricky with dual crown forks.

The Rookie

Carpenters T (like a giant set square - not made by Giant of course), set across the stanchions, set it to mid point using the ruler on it to centralise, then tilt it up and adjust the stem so the faceplate aligns.....

Joking, just set it by eye FGS! How hard is it????

bluechair84

Does Park Tools not have an 'atomic precision laser aligning level' for this very purpose?

cooldad

bluechair84 wrote:

Does Park Tools not have an 'atomic precision laser aligning level' for this very purpose?

They pulled it off the market after OCD people kept getting blinded.

bluechair84

cooldad wrote:

bluechair84 wrote:

Does Park Tools not have an 'atomic precision laser aligning level' for this very purpose?

They pulled it off the market after OCD people kept getting blinded.

Then I'm all out of ideas. I suggest OP just keeps it as his 'velodrome bike' and buys another.

WindyG

How can such a simple job be made to sound so difficult, i think my 10 year could manage getting a stem straight.

Zziplex

Try 360 times, one of the angles will be right. 8)

paulmgreen

bluechair84 wrote:

cooldad wrote:

bluechair84 wrote:

Does Park Tools not have an 'atomic precision laser aligning level' for this very purpose?

They pulled it off the market after OCD people kept getting blinded.

Then I'm all out of ideas. I suggest OP just keeps it as his 'velodrome bike' and buys another.

What if its the wrong angle for the Velodrome though ???

EH_Rob

Probably easier to change the velodrome angle than stem angle.