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Changing handle bars on a '85 Professional 
PostPosted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:23 pm Reply with quote
streetboy651
Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 6
OK - started riding again after a 12 year hiatus. Picking up where i left off, I have an '85 Professional w/ Belleri stem and bars. The bars are too wide for me. More comfortable with the width on my '74 PX10 Any idea what i can swap my Belleri bars with that will fit the Belleri stem. Having been out of the bike game for so long - I sorta forgot all the different sizing issues at play! thanks - george[/list]
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:56 am Reply with quote
sandranian
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Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 2701
Location: Southern California
If you are going to switch brands of bars, I would switch the brand of the stem as well. Cinelli comes to mind. It really isn't that expensive, and why bother with trying to fit a square peg in a round hole?

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Re: Changing handle bars on a '85 Professional 
PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:48 pm Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
streetboy651 wrote:
...I have an '85 Professional w/ Belleri stem and bars. The bars are too wide for me. More comfortable with the width on my '74 PX10 Any idea what i can swap my Belleri bars with that will fit the Belleri stem... george


I can probably help you.. I have a lot of bars and stems.

For starters, one way of measuring proper bar width is to stand with your arm stretched straight out, angled downward at about a 45° angle and palms facing inward.

Measure the distance between your palms...

The "perfect' bar width is about the same as your shoulder width.

That allows your chest to expand easily when breathing heavy.


Some brands are measured from center to center of the bar ends, others are measured from the outside of the "drops" or the top at the bends.





Also some bars are flared out at the drops: they may be 40cm at the tops but 42cm across the drops.


46cm wide bars would fit my shoulders but... Bars that wide are sort like bull horns on the hood of a Cadillac "pimpmobile"... Laughing




I ride 42cm to 44cm bars measured across of the widest point of the "tops" where the brake levers mount but the 44cm are the most comfortable.


Back in the day 36cm and 38cm bars were standard widths. A common myth was that pros used narrower bars because they could ride closer together in a peloton... Rolling Eyes


The old French standard diameter for bar centers was 25mm. By the mid 70s many French bikes came with 25.4mm (1 inch) bars and later 26mm bars.

Older Cinelli bars had 26.4mm centers while 3TTT bars were 26mm diameter.

By the 1980s 25.4mm and 26mm became the de facto bar diameter standards.


French (metric) stems had ~22.0mm - actually 21.9mm quills while 22.2mm (7/8") diameter was the inch standard.

By the early 80s most French bikes used 22.2mm diameter stems and took 25.4mm or 26mm bars.


The Belleri stem on your bike is almost certainly 22.2mm and the bars are probably 26mm.


Older French 25mm aluminum bars like on your PX-10 were made from low strength alloys and had a tendency to sag. They could fail catastrophically without warning. Sagging or bent bars should not be used.






The best classic style stems are made of forged aluminum alloys. During the bike boom of the early 70s a lot of cheap cast aluminum stems were being supplied on European bikes, especially French makes.

They gained the reputation of being "death stems" because the could break without warning. By the late 80s the quality of cast aluminum stems improved greatly.

If the stem on you bike is a comfortable length, I have some 26mm bars in 38cm and 40cm widths that will fit.

If you need both a bar and stem I can provide that also.

If interest, send me a Private Massage.


BTW, Don't try to use a bar that's too small or too large for your stem. For example a 25mm, 25.4mm or 26mm bar. The clamp on aluminum stems do not stretch or compact very much.

26.4mm Cinelli stem used with a 25mm bar





26mm 3TTT stem used with a 26.4mm bar




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SF Bay Area, CA USA
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Changing handle bars on a '85 Professional 
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