Quill stemsinsert into the threaded steer tube on a bicycle fork and are held in place by means of a bolt which tightens a wedge inside the tube. The other type of stem commonly used is a so-called threadless stem which clamps to a threadless steer tube. Quill stems and threaded steer tubes are less common nowadays, but the Nitto company in Japan still makes a wide range. Here is a side by side photo of most of the stems they make. Each stem in the photo is placed so that the minimum insertion mark on the stem aligns with the top of the ruler. This gives a basic visual cue as to how high the various stems can extend above the top of the tube. Notice that the stems are placed at an angle meant to replicate the 70 some degree angle of the head tube on most bikes. NEWS FLASH! 09/26/2012 We now stock the 225 Technomic Deluxe stems. These have a long quill like the Technomic but are cold forged and have the same finish as the Deluxe. 25.4 or 26.0 clamp sizes.
From Left to right: Nitto Dirt Drop 100, Nitto Dirt Drop 80, Nitto Technomic, Nitto Technomic Deluxe and Nitto Dynamic
The Dynamic stems only come with a 26.0 mm clamp size, and the Dirt Drop, Technomic and Deluxe stems come with either 25.4mm or 26.0 mm clamps. A 25.4 stem will not work with a handlebar that has a diameter at the center clamping point of 26.0. However a 26.0 stem will work with a 25.4 handlebar as long as a shim, specially made for this purpose is used between the stem and the bar. The Dirt Drop stems are only made in 80 mm and 100mm versions (the extension from the vertical-ish riser part or quill part of the stem). The other models come with extensions generally from 80 mm to 100mm in 10 mm increments. Got it?
Hopefully, this is a useful comparison for the bicycle traveler who might be thinking about changing the position of their handlebars or about getting different handlebars.
I remember riding through downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada on my first self supported bike tour with homemade rear panniers which, when the bike hit a rough patch, bounced around and came un-hooked from the rack. Luckily they didn’t fall completely off because the gang of homeless men accosting me from a vacant lot as I rode past would have been happy to relieve me from my load and probably my bike if I had stopped. Needless to say, since that tour I am a little more finicky about my equipment.
On my up-coming tour I am using front and rear racks made by Nitto in Tokyo, Japan. These are made of nickel plated, tubular Chrome-moly steel with simple and solid attachment hardware.
The Nitto Campee front rack sans the low rider attachments.Highly adjustable aluminum struts allow for a custom fit.The lower leg of the Campee rack has an integral spacer to clear the fork blade.Daruma bolt Daruma bolt attached to rack and strut.
The Nitto Campee front rack comes with detachable low-rider panels for attaching panniers. I have removed those, because I don’t have low rider panniers. The panniers and bags I willbe using are the subject of another post. The aluminum struts attaching the rack to the fork eyelets in these photos are sold as separate accessories. The struts which come with the rack are made to attach to cantilever brake posts.
This seems like as good a time as any to look at a couple different fork blade/eyelet/brake combinations. Eyelets are the small, threaded holes drilled into the sides of the fork or into tabs which are then welded onto the dropout (the piece on the end of the fork blade…where the wheel axle attaches). Some bikes have one eyelet on the fork dropout and some have two. There is only one on each dropout on my bike, so the rack and the fender strut clamps will share the same hole. A bike with two dropout eyelets allows a little more flexibility in attaching racks and fenders.
A fork blade dropout(from a Surly Long Haul Trucker) with two eyelets
Not all bikes have eyelets on the forks. What? How can that be? Well, some people don’t want to carry stuff on their bikes, believe it or not. For the person who actually uses their bike, however, the more eyelets the better. OK so how about the mid-fork eyelets? On most touring bikes these are located to facilitate “low rider” racks such as the Tubus Tara or the Tubus Duo. And on really well designed touring bikes, like Surly’s Long Haul Trucker, there are two mid-fork eyelets on each fork blade…one on the outside and one on the inside. The Tubus Duo was actually made with that bike in mind. On some bikes, like my Rivendell, the eyelets are located higher on the fork, and these will not work with low-rider only racks. Bikes such as Rivendell, with higher fork mount braze-on eyelets seem to work best with the Nitto type hardware and designs.
The fork on the left has inner and outer eyelets in the fork blade. The other fork blade has braze-on eyelets mounted higher.
Many touring bikes will also be designed for cantilever style brakes. These brakes are mounted on special posts which are welded on to the fork blades. Some racks like Old Man Mountain brand Cold Springs and Ultimate Low Rider models attach directly to these posts with provided replacement bolts. Others, like some Nitto models attach to these posts with a special, double ended brake bolt or stud.
The fork in the foreground has posts for cantilever style brakes. The brakes on the other fork are center mount, sidepulls. The Nitto Campee rack on a bike with cantilever brakes. The struts would bolt on to a stud (pictured below) which replaces the brake bolt.This is the stud which replaces the cantilever brake bolt.The struts are adjusted to line up with the brake bolt, which would be replaced with the double ended stud.
I got a little carried away and off topic with this post, but it felt like a good time to get into some rack details. Hopefully it might give you, good readers, some things on which to cogitate. In the next post I talk about my dual Schmidt E6 headlight setup, about which I am unnaturally excited.
