Laser Precision! All you need to get your bars straight.

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We brought you news of Tune’s laser alignment tool last summer (that allows you to get your stem alignment spot on), but the €69 price tag limited it to the truly obsessed or professionally interested.

However, reader Tim Broad was playing around in his man-shed and came up with his own version “using a £19.99 two-year-old Aldi laser level and a crash damaged barfly mount.”

Even he admits that despite not drinking real ale or having any facial hair – “I knew I had developed a mountain biking fettling obsession after completing the manufacture of a laser level to get my handlebars completely 100% straight!”

It apparently works perfectly. And we know other home tinkerers who are working on their own versions.

Are you making one? Are you that bothered about having wonky bars?

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

More posts from Chipps

Comments (13)

    swavisswavis May 11, 2015 at 8:45 am

    I’m not making one but I may have to now…

    amediasamedias May 11, 2015 at 9:04 am

    how long until someone makes a Laser Handlebar Aligner Aligner just to make reeeaaaally sure?

    StonerStoner May 11, 2015 at 9:17 am

    hasn’t ben cooper knocked one out in his shop?

    StonerStoner May 11, 2015 at 9:18 am

    I mean laser alignment device, obviously. I’m sure Mr Kinetics would never sully his emporium….

    araceraracer May 11, 2015 at 10:52 am

    If you’re going to set it up to that level of precision, you surely need to measure your arms first in case one is longer than the other.

    NorthwindNorthwind May 11, 2015 at 10:54 am

    If you are a person who can tell the difference between perfectly straight and fractionally squint, then you don’t need a laser device to tell you. And if you can’t tell, then you don’t need a laser device because it doesn’t make any difference.

    rocketdogrocketdog May 11, 2015 at 10:56 am

    Only works if the front wheel is dished so the rim is dead centre, the tyre perfect from the mold & the forks are straight though

    The PinksterThe Pinkster May 11, 2015 at 11:18 am

    I’m slightly obsessed with getting my bars straight so that looks like a work of genius to me.

    myopicmyopic May 11, 2015 at 1:02 pm

    Crashed my road bike last year. Jumped back on and it was only when I stopped 2 hours later I noticed bars were about 15-20 degrees out of alignment. So I don’t think I need worry about laser alignment!

    PaulPaul May 11, 2015 at 1:14 pm

    Want to do it with even more precision?

    1)Go to DIY superstore and buy a 1m long spirt level / straight edge and some gaffa tape.

    2) gaffa tape level across fork sliders (with wheel removed)

    3) from above, use you eyes to see which end of your bars “covers up” the end of the level first. Adjust angle till both ends of bars cover ends of level at the same moment

    ime, you can see as little as 0.5mm misalignment with your eyes, and over say 780mm, enduro bars 😉 that’s a maximum angular misalignment of just 0.07deg

    foureyesfoureyes May 11, 2015 at 5:47 pm

    genius, I’ve been wondering why these things didn’t exist, but the two axis of laser lines makes it great. i need one

    SamSam May 11, 2015 at 6:43 pm

    Just don’t use a 2W blue laser from Odic Force 😉

    ononeorangeononeorange May 11, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    Who cares where the bars are? Just ride.

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