Klein Airheadset frustrations (Shim machining?)

[zzy]

I located one of my dream frames, a 2000 Klein Quantum Pro. But when I got it home, I realized NONE of my 1 or 1 1/8" stems work with it. I calipered the steerer, and it's bloody 27.0mm!! It's a proprietary fork/headset size!! I really want to get my 1 1/8" VO stem to work with it, so anyone have a suggestion to make it work? As I see it:
1. Jam a 1" - 1 1/8" shim on it, and grind it down to ~28.6mm
2. Find a machine shop and have them make me a 27ID, 28.6OD shim
3. Smash the frame with a hammer.

Has anyone encountered this in the past? I can't find ANYTHING online. Any machine shop guys here or do you know someone?

[John H.]

I may have some shims stashed away. Back in the day I rode for a Klein sponsored team.
I think that I also have a steel stem made in that diameter- but it is for 26.0 bars.
Also have the tools to press in the headset bearings.

[zzy]

See, this is why I love this place.

[notoriousdjw]

I have 2 stems that might work although one of them is color matched ( blue/purple fade in 1996 quantum pro colors) and the other is a MC3 riser stem (looks like it is +17). The riser stem was an attempt to fit a bike that was fundamentally too big for me. I ended up converting to 1 1/8" to get more stem selection but then the frame cracked :(. I do have a 26.0mm ITM racing bar (marked 44 and looks slightly wider than a 42mm c-t-c bar I compared it to). You can have any of it for shipping costs if you send me a PM. The color-matched stem can be seen on page 29 here (http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/2653-2/Klein1996.pdf)

I made a shim out of 20 or 22 gage sheet metal from home depot. I found the idea on another web forum somewhere and basically converted 1/16" to decimal, divided by 2, then looked for the sheet metal closest in thickness. It cut with some tin snips and worked fine with a thomson stem.

[Peter P.]

If you don't like the home remedies offered, I would contact any framebuilder that also offers stems. Tell them the situation and what you need. They are probably uniquely equipped to machine a shim to your specs with relative ease. You might have to ship your stem to them as a "blueprint" of sorts.

[zzy]

I've actually always wanted a new 1" 31.8 stem too. One day I will call Yamaguchi.

Thanks for the suggestions. I really do want a proper shim rather than the old coop pop can shim method. A stem maker is a good idea tho, but I suspect a machine shop could handle it too. I have fairly precise dimensions. However I really do hope john's shims will work.

Then I have to deal with the internal cable routing...

[hokoman]

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=149742

[zzy]

Yeah I thought about that but was worried about the internal diameter mismatch on the shim. I learned the hard way about tolerance mismatches. It will be my last resort.

[twangston73]

Not super helpful, I know, but I had this exact problem a few years ago. I eventually tracked down a guy in Minneapolis who had a stash of original MC3 stems in various sizes, got one for a very modest price. My memory fades and the email cannot be readily found, but these animals do exist. I'd check the ebay and with time you'll probably find one.