trouble lowering Cinelli stem

I recently bought what I believe to be a late seventies Colnago with a
Cinelli stem. The bars were up to high for my tastes so I tried
lowering the stem. I can fully remove the stem, but cant get it into
the steerer more that 2 inches or so. I checked the inside of the
steerer for rust and debris and found none. The stem is not bottoming
out on the brake bolt. One more thing to point out, the locknut on
the headset seems to rubbing against the front of the stem quill.
Even with the locknut removed however the quill cannot be inserted
into the steerer more that 2 inches or so. Is it possible that the
stem or (hope not) steerer is slightly bent?

thanks

On Apr 2, 2:24 pm, "tonyfranciozi" wrote:
I recently bought what I believe to be a late seventies Colnago with a
Cinelli stem. The bars were up to high for my tastes so I tried
lowering the stem. I can fully remove the stem, but cant get it into
the steerer more that 2 inches or so. I checked the inside of the
steerer for rust and debris and found none. The stem is not bottoming
out on the brake bolt. One more thing to point out, the locknut on
the headset seems to rubbing against the front of the stem quill.
Even with the locknut removed however the quill cannot be inserted
into the steerer more that 2 inches or so. Is it possible that the
stem or (hope not) steerer is slightly bent?

thanks

Could be that the inside of fork steerer could be 'butted' and thicker
toward the end.

tonyfranciozi wrote:
I recently bought what I believe to be a late seventies Colnago with a
Cinelli stem. The bars were up to high for my tastes so I tried
lowering the stem. I can fully remove the stem, but cant get it into
the steerer more that 2 inches or so. I checked the inside of the
steerer for rust and debris and found none. The stem is not bottoming
out on the brake bolt. One more thing to point out, the locknut on
the headset seems to rubbing against the front of the stem quill.
Even with the locknut removed however the quill cannot be inserted
into the steerer more that 2 inches or so. Is it possible that the
stem or (hope not) steerer is slightly bent?

I'd take it apart (today is a good day to clean and relubricate your
headset) and lay a straightedge on the fork column, front and back.

While it's apart inspect for lumps or cracks from stem installation errors.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Apr 2, 4:24 pm, "tonyfranciozi" wrote:
I recently bought what I believe to be a late seventies Colnago with a
Cinelli stem. The bars were up to high for my tastes so I tried
lowering the stem. I can fully remove the stem, but cant get it into
the steerer more that 2 inches or so. I checked the inside of the
steerer for rust and debris and found none. The stem is not bottoming
out on the brake bolt. One more thing to point out, the locknut on
the headset seems to rubbing against the front of the stem quill.
Even with the locknut removed however the quill cannot be inserted
into the steerer more that 2 inches or so. Is it possible that the
stem or (hope not) steerer is slightly bent?

thanks

I agree with Andy Muzi to use the straight edge, but look at the
stem's shaft as well as the fork. I had a few Cinelli stems back in
the day that had a curve (not really bent, they were made new that
way) that stopped the stem inserting all the way in.

After examining everything it appears that the steerer was straight
and that the stem was a bit curved and bulged in some spots. After
sanding down the high parts it finally fit in.

I agree with Andy Muzi to use the straight edge, but look at the
stem's shaft as well as the fork. I had a few Cinelli stems back in
the day that had a curve (not really bent, they were made new that
way) that stopped the stem inserting all the way in.

On 2007-04-02, tonyfranciozi wrote:

I recently bought what I believe to be a late seventies Colnago with a
Cinelli stem. The bars were up to high for my tastes so I tried
lowering the stem. I can fully remove the stem, but cant get it into
the steerer more that 2 inches or so. I checked the inside of the
steerer for rust and debris and found none. The stem is not bottoming
out on the brake bolt. One more thing to point out, the locknut on
the headset seems to rubbing against the front of the stem quill.
Even with the locknut removed however the quill cannot be inserted
into the steerer more that 2 inches or so. Is it possible that the
stem or (hope not) steerer is slightly bent?

How big is the frame? On small frames the stem can bottom out on the
steer tube butt unless the builder trimmed some material off that end
when the fork was built.

--

John )

On Apr 4, 3:43 pm, John Thompson wrote:
On 2007-04-02, tonyfranciozi wrote:

I recently bought what I believe to be a late seventies Colnago with a
Cinelli stem. The bars were up to high for my tastes so I tried
lowering the stem. I can fully remove the stem, but cant get it into
the steerer more that 2 inches or so. I checked the inside of the
steerer for rust and debris and found none. The stem is not bottoming
out on the brake bolt. One more thing to point out, the locknut on
the headset seems to rubbing against the front of the stem quill.
Even with the locknut removed however the quill cannot be inserted
into the steerer more that 2 inches or so. Is it possible that the
stem or (hope not) steerer is slightly bent?

How big is the frame? On small frames the stem can bottom out on the
steer tube butt unless the builder trimmed some material off that end
when the fork was built.

--

John )

the frame is a 58cm and the stem was much shorter than the steerer so
i'm positive that it wasn't bottoming out.