Bought an adjustable stem on Aliexpress in the hopes of getting a better fit. It got a little better, but not enough.
My Stels Navigator 750 bike is over 20 years old. More precisely, I have two of these - with a male and female frame. For the last fifteen years I've been waiting for them to become unusable and it will be possible to buy more comfortable bicycles, but they all work and work.
These bikes are considered mountain bikes, but we ride them around the city. The problem of a narrow, uncomfortable seat was solved a long time ago by a gel pad, but the steering wheel is very low and you have to drive with your head up. I have long wanted to do something about this, but then I saw adjustable stems on Ali and thought that this is what I needed: the steering wheel will become higher and closer to the seat.
The handlebars on most bicycles have a diameter of 28.6 mm, but there are 25.4 mm and 31.8 mm handlebars, so it is important to measure the diameter of the handlebars before buying a stem.
My handlebar is thin and I bought a 110mm x 25.4mm stem for $ 10.89.
The stem can be rotated 0-60 degrees.
From below it has teeth and a retainer so that it does not turn on the go.
Regular takeaway and freshly bought. The difference in steering position is not as big as I expected.
The adjustable stem was very heavy. It weighs 346 grams (the standard two are lighter - 168 grams). I checked it with a magnet - it does not magnet, it means some kind of Chinese extra-heavy aluminum alloy. :)
This is how the stem got on the bike (maximum angle).
Here's what happened. It was:
Became:
The same photos are nearby.
The steering wheel has become a little higher and a little closer to the seat, but this was not enough for a comfortable city ride, although this, of course, is more convenient than it was. But the problem immediately emerged - how not to tighten the bolts, after a couple of minutes the stem halves still begin to dangle slightly relative to each other.
Perhaps instead of a stem, it was necessary to buy such an extension of the steering rack for $ 8.48, which raises the handlebars by 7 or 10 cm.
Probably, you can even install the standard stem on such an extension cord "inside out" (not from the rack forward, but from rack back), but the handlebar will then become almost 20 cm closer to the saddle and this can be inconvenient, but you need to try.
© 2020, Alexey Nadezhin
The main topic of my blog is technology in human life. I write reviews, share experiences, talk about all sorts of interesting things. My second project - lamptest.ru. I test LED bulbs and help figure out which ones are good and which are not so good.