Handlebar questions

[Ken Freeman]

I'm getting my fleet ready, in parallel with my physical therapy to get my broken wrist healed.  Some handlebar changes are planned.  I found a really nice Nitto-made Maes bar branded "Grand Bois."  Specs are 42 cm wide, 120 cm drop, and 11 cm reach, 342 grams. Clamp is 25.4 mm.  

Didn't Compass sell Grand Bois at one time?  I bought these for a song on Ebay, I think they were labelled "old handlebars for fixie" or something.

Who sell GB now?  There are several places carrying re-branded Nitto products, but this has some miles on it.

Another question:

On Nitto and similar quill stems, I want to find out which of my stems on hand are for 25.4 mm clamp areas.  Better quality stems, such as the old Pearl and the Technomic Deluxe, have the clamp diameter stamped in the quill.  All of mine say "26.0," except for the ones that say nothing.  Older or cheaper models do not have any such stamping.  So if I measure the ID of my clamps with my little digital caliper, what is the correct measurement that will tell me if I have a 25.4 mm handlebar clamp in my hands?

Ken Freeman

Ann Arbor, MI USA

[Steve Palincsar]

On 03/10/2018 08:30 AM, Ken Freeman wrote:
> I'm getting my fleet ready, in parallel with my physical therapy to
> get my broken wrist healed.  Some handlebar changes are planned.  I
> found a really nice Nitto-made Maes bar branded "Grand Bois."  Specs
> are 42 cm wide, 120 cm drop, and 11 cm reach, 342 grams. Clamp is 25.4
> mm.
>
> Didn't Compass sell Grand Bois at one time?

Yes - in fact, they still do.
https://www.compasscycle.com/product-category/components/handlebars/

> I bought these for a song on Ebay, I think they were labelled "old
> handlebars for fixie" or something.
>
> Who sell GB now?

You can buy direct from Grand Bois in Japan.

> There are several places carrying re-branded Nitto products, but this
> has some miles on it.

This isn't a "re-branded Nitto" -- rather, Nitto makes them to Grand
Bois (and similarly, to Compass) specifications.  There is no
corresponding Nitto-branded product exactly like this.

>
> Another question:
>
> On Nitto and similar quill stems, I want to find out which of my stems
> on hand are for 25.4 mm clamp areas.  Better quality stems, such as
> the old Pearl and the Technomic Deluxe, have the clamp diameter
> stamped in the quill.  All of mine say "26.0," except for the ones
> that say nothing.  Older or cheaper models do not have any such
> stamping.  So if I measure the ID of my clamps with my little digital
> caliper, what is the correct measurement that will tell me if I have a
> 25.4 mm handlebar clamp in my hands?

Measuring certainly works.  And if you want to use one of those 26.0
stems with a 25.4 bar, Compass sells some Nitto shims made exactly for
that purpose.

>
> Ken Freeman
> Ann Arbor, MI USA
>

--
Steve Palincsar
Alexandria, Virginia
USA

[Ken Freeman]

Sheesh, I looked at that page at least 5 times yesterday, without seeing the words "Grand Bois!"

Regarding measurement, I wasn't asking "Can measurement work?"  I was asking, "when I measure, what does the number have to be, to correctly indicate I have a 25.4mm clamp?"

But thank you.