[t5rguy]

To further enhance the looks of my 80's bike, I picked up a used Cinelli XA stem. Earlier I already bought a new Cinelli Altera handlebar. By the look of things, the XA has a 26.4 mm clamp, the Altera bar of course is 26.0 mm. When tightening the clamp, it just doesn't feel like it will be really tight. The 0.4 mm really does seem to make a difference.
Any on-hand experiences out there? Should I start looking for a old Cinelli 26.4 handlebar?

Thanks for any input!

 

[CycloPathic]

yes..

To further enhance the looks of my 80's bike, I picked up a used Cinelli XA stem. Earlier I already bought a new Cinelli Altera handlebar. By the look of things, the XA has a 26.4 mm clamp, the Altera bar of course is 26.0 mm. When tightening the clamp, it just doesn't feel like it will be really tight. The 0.4 mm really does seem to make a difference.
Any on-hand experiences out there? Should I start looking for a old Cinelli 26.4 handlebar?

Thanks for any input!

you need to get old Cinelli 64 or 66 or new stem. You could use new bar if you had removable faceplate stem, I use 26.4 bar with no-name 26.0 stem, they're more or less interchangable. You could try to shim it, but my guess you've already put too much stress on old stem tryint to clap it in, those Al stems were prone to break at clamp. Get new stem, if it fails you'd regret it.

 

[Spunout]

If you don't have a new stem handy, try a beer can shim. nm

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[Dave Hickey]

To further enhance the looks of my 80's bike, I picked up a used Cinelli XA stem. Earlier I already bought a new Cinelli Altera handlebar. By the look of things, the XA has a 26.4 mm clamp, the Altera bar of course is 26.0 mm. When tightening the clamp, it just doesn't feel like it will be really tight. The 0.4 mm really does seem to make a difference.
Any on-hand experiences out there? Should I start looking for a old Cinelli 26.4 handlebar?

Thanks for any input!

You can try shimming it but it might still creak. If you shim it, try removing the plastic insert where the bolt tightens. Personally, I haven't had much luck with shimming. It held fine but it creaked like crazy.

 

[rufus]

you can still get 26.0 cinelli XA's from www.deesidecycles.com

 

[C-40]

pop can shim...

The .1mm thickness of the aluminum used for pop cans is the perfect shim material. I'ce done it with no problem. To reduce the chance of creaking, grease or oil all metal to metal contact areas before tightening.

 

[t5rguy]

64 handlebar

Thanks for all the replies guys; instead of opting for a shim, I put out a WTB ad in a national marketplace website, and what do you know, half a day later someone offers me a NOS Cinelli 64 handlebar, in 26.4 mm clampsize, as he claims. He's sending it to me, so I'll know soon if I've got the solution to this problem I created myself!