Anything better than a beer can shim?

[CDollarsign]

Title says it all. I was a dumb ass and bought a 26.4 stem to use with 26.0 bars. My shim sometimes slips under load, which is a concern. I really would like to make this work. Any alternatives?

[bennie222]

try loading it full of as much green locktite as it'll take. I had a handle bar slipping like that, it wasn't shimmed, but had a 'sleeve' on it and the bar was sliding inside the sleeve. Green locktite fixed it.

[Calnago]

I'm assuming that you don't want to just say 'd'oh!, and get a proper matching bar and stem. And you mention that with the shim you do have, which I presume is the proper one for that combo, slips under load, my only suggestion would be really clean up the contact areas then try to again with a little carbon paste between the shim, stem and bars. It doesn't have to be carbon to have the same effect. Failing that... Budweiser my friend.

[CDollarsign]

I think that a can is around .1mm thickness, should i double up with some sort of low viscosity compound between each layer?

[ColonelJLloyd]

I'm currently running the same combo (3ttt bar in Cinelli stem). I used one of the two pieces in a Velo Orange or Nitto (can't remember which) 26.0 to 25.4 shim set and I haven't an issue and I use the drops a lot.

[Mark McM]

I think that a can is around .1mm thickness, should i double up with some sort of low viscosity compound between each layer?

Sounds like a plan. Like others, I've used beverage can shims (although my beverage of choice is Mountain Dew), which I wrap a few layers as necessary to fill the gap.

[cachagua]

Linseed oil and #150 grit (scrub it off sandpaper, you only need a little).

Redneck loc-tite. Smells nice too!

[bluesea]

Nitto shim anyone?

[Formulasaab]

I have a box of assorted shim stock that I bought years ago from McMaster-Carr. It has carried me through several bicycle and automotive projects. Most recently, I used it to shim my 3TTT Podium bars in my 3TTT Titanium Pro stem.

I tested the effectiveness over the last two rides totaling ~160 miles and ~1700 ft of climbing.

[CDollarsign]

I just doubled up my can shim and it seems to hold pretty well. I will test on my ride to the hardware store for green locktite...

[saab2000]

Get the proper stem. Unless you like facial reconstruction surgery. Beer can shims have their place in this world, but stems and bars aren't one of them in my world. :eek:

It's soft metal and a bar that shifts at an inopportune time could send you flying.

Just my $.02

[fuzzalow]

I have done this. Run ergo drop bend 26.0 bars in a Cinelli 1A 26.4 stem. Using a shim cut from brass sheet stock. It can be done and is not dangerous if, and only if, the bars you are running are not any kind of light weight bar intended for a threadless stem handlebar clamp.

The type of pressure exerted by the type of bar clamp on a Cinelli quill will crush & deform a lighter weight bar that is not hefty enough in the center section. A threadless stem clamps differently and more evenly distributes the clamping force. This allowed the bars to get lighter because the bar could be made lighter gauge.

Be cautious, take no chances.

[CDollarsign]

I am using a cinelli XA to giro d'italia bar.

[fuzzalow]

I am using a cinelli XA to giro d'italia bar.

Mod. 64s - bars meant for a quill bar clamp. You will be OK.

[Puget Pounder]

I would just get the right stem combo, but if you don't want to do that, double up alu can shims, rough them with sandpaper, and squirt some blue loctite on the faces.

[lhuerta]

The trick is finding the correct beverage...buy yourself a tall can of Sapporo, savor the beer and drink until empty, then take out your cutting tools and cut long rectangular sheets of shim stock (3cm x 9cm), place shim stock strip inside your stem clamp and outline the shape of the stem clamp, then cut out a shim.

Sapporo cans are a must for this workaround as they are nice and thick and provide the perfect size shim to fill the 0.4 mm gap from 26.0 to 26.4mm (be sure to drink beer before cutting can). I have done this numerous times w/out a single failure.

Lou

[staggerwing]

Making this way too complicated.

As a couple have alluded too, a piece of properly sized brass shim stock is what you need. FWIW, you have a 26.0mm diameter bar and need it to fit properly in a 26.4mm clamp. You need a piece of 0.2mm shim stock, a smidge over 3 inches in length (pi*26.0mm*(1in/25.4mm)). Since you are most likely to find English dimension shim, know 1mm ~= 0.040", therefore 0.2mm = 0.008".

If you PM me a snail mail address, and width of your bar clamp, I will cut you a piece and drop it in the post, gratis. If that will take too long, check at a local full range auto parts store (NAPA, etc.).

[avalonracing]

Get the proper stem. Unless you like facial reconstruction surgery. Beer can shims have their place in this world, but stems and bars aren't one of them in my world. :eek:

It's soft metal and a bar that shifts at an inopportune time could send you flying.

Just my $.02


X100!
Hey, if you ride at 10mph on smooth bike paths with soft moss on the sides go for it, but when I ride I go downhill, sprint, climb, hit bumps and I wouldn't feel comfortable at all with a shimmed stem.

[fuzzalow]

The trick is finding the correct beverage...buy yourself a tall can of Sapporo, savor the beer and drink until empty, then take out your cutting tools and cut long rectangular sheets of shim stock (3cm x 9cm), place shim stock strip inside your stem clamp and outline the shape of the stem clamp, then cut out a shim.

Sapporo cans are a must for this workaround as they are nice and thick and provide the perfect size shim to fill the 0.4 mm gap from 26.0 to 26.4mm (be sure to drink beer before cutting can). I have done this numerous times w/out a single failure.

Lou

I credit you for my being enlightened by Sapporo, the beverage not the shim. These topics go 'round and 'round in the forums and we both probably said the same things last time around too. Only I did better for getting the tip on the beer. :beer: Arigatou!

[jds108]

One other source of raw stock material is the material used to make home air ducts (the cylinders, tubing, etc inside the walls of your house for central air/heat). I bought a piece of it because it measures 0.2mm thick.

Wish I knew back then that Sapporo cans also are this thick!

[T.J.]

last two rides totaling ~160 miles and ~1700 ft of climbing.

quite the difference in topography we have

[weiwentg]

The trick is finding the correct beverage...buy yourself a tall can of Sapporo, savor the beer and drink until empty, then take out your cutting tools and cut long rectangular sheets of shim stock (3cm x 9cm), place shim stock strip inside your stem clamp and outline the shape of the stem clamp, then cut out a shim.

Sapporo cans are a must for this workaround as they are nice and thick and provide the perfect size shim to fill the 0.4 mm gap from 26.0 to 26.4mm (be sure to drink beer before cutting can). I have done this numerous times w/out a single failure.

Lou

eh, Sapporo isn't that good. it's about the same level as Heineken. which is at least a step up from Budweiser.

[Cat3roadracer]

Shim a seat post, maybe. Shim a stem? No thanks. Your teeth are much more important than saving $40 for a stem that fits.

[oldpotatoe]

Title says it all. I was a dumb ass and bought a 26.4 stem to use with 26.0 bars. My shim sometimes slips under load, which is a concern. I really would like to make this work. Any alternatives?

Nitto makes shims for this purpose..one 25.4 to 26..it'll work for 26mm to 26.4..yes, a better alternative..course you don't get to empty the 'Nitto' beer can before you use it

[ultraman6970]

If you got a 26.4 cinelli stem, the one that has a wedge inside then IMO the only solution is to get the right handlebar, you will worn the wedges, the bolt and whole mechanism trying to make it work you know. That stem is just picky IMO and has to be put together with the right handlebar.

If you got the clamp version you can locktite the shim to the handlebar and use locktite in the clamp aswell but it should work.

My main complain with old cinelli stuff is that their tolerances were really bad.

Good luck.

ps: what potato says.

[Mark McM]

Shim a seat post, maybe. Shim a stem? No thanks. Your teeth are much more important than saving $40 for a stem that fits.

That handlebar had a shim straight out of the factory. In the old days, before hydroforming was common, handlebars were made of straight 22mm OD tubing, with a 25.4/26.0/26.4mm OD sleeve added in the center where the stem clamps. That sleeve is basically a shim, to build up the 22mm diameter of the handlebar to the 26.4mm diameter of the stem.

Handlebars already require adequate clamping force to keep from slipping. Adding a shim (the sleeve that is already on this bar) shouldn't make a difference if the clamping force is adequate.