Because you can always be <1mm out by eye (see photo), I thought I’d try and make a tool that could align your stem to the forks. I know there is a laser tool on the market, but that only puts a spot on your tyre so you’re still relying on aligning by sight. Would anyone be interested in this tool or is it me that’s just that bit too anally retentive?

You know it’s gone mid day now?

Can’t see the picture but honestly, if someone made something cheap and effective that would do this accurately, I could stop doing my head in on every first ride after a fork service/new fork/new stem etc.

Image uploaded now. It’s obscuring the actual tool but it shows the typical mis-alignment that many of us are probably riding with. The tool also cuts out the faff of doing it by eye.

Image uploaded now. It’s obscuring the actual tool but it shows the typical mis-alignment that many of us are probably riding with

awesome, so instead of a pic of the tool, the thing you’ve made and are trying to get us interested in, you’re showing us a pic of a wonky stem, something that even if we hadn’t seen one before would probably have no trouble imagining 😆

come on, show us the tool!

So it’s a flat surface you somehow attach to the forks that you then ensure two points of the stem face are in contact with?

Neat. I like it.

The only thing is, you really want to align with the inner face of the bar clamp not the front of the stem (which could be out of alignment for whatever reason).

It would still be useful, but I don’t think I’d buy it as it is.

as i said with the last one and the one ben made ……

its not a problem i have ever suffered with.

I wonder if we can correlate the data points between folks who cant get their stems straight and those who cant use a hacksaw straight – i also wonder if they can ride straight on narrow boardwalk ?

needs moar lasers…

its not a problem i have ever suffered with.

I’ve a problem with one of my eyes that affects my depth perception and causes straight lines to look curved. Getting a stem straight is a bloody nightmare for me

Being a couple of millimetres off is irrelevant, you’ll adapt to it as soon as you start moving. The only reason you might need to get it exactly right would be to satisfy your OCD.

err….been doing it this way

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcLcFRQvf-k[/video]

spawnofyorkshire – Member
its not a problem i have ever suffered with.
I’ve a problem with one of my eyes that affects my depth perception and causes straight lines to look curved. Getting a stem straight is a bloody nightmare for me

how do you tell if your going straight.

when going around a bend does it look really bendy or straight.

err….been doing it this way

Not seen that before.

I like it, nice, simple & cheap.

trail_rat – Member
…its not a problem i have ever suffered with.

I wonder if we can correlate the data points between folks who cant get their stems straight and those who cant use a hacksaw straight – i also wonder if they can ride straight on narrow boardwalk ?

Same here until I got glasses. No such thing as a straight line anymore except when the glasses are in a certain position.

Now I do it by Braille instead of eye, ie hold fork between legs and turn bars until it is right by feel.

Works for me but a tool would be handy and quick.

This does depend on having arms the same length of course.

Can you make a tool to check that first, or calibrate your arms then adjust your tool.

You know it’s more than likely your right arm is longer than your left? (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christopher_Ruff2/publication/7457813_Limb_bone_bilateral_asymmetry_variability_and_commonality_among_modern_humans/links/02e7e5363ac9ee2825000000.pdf)

Maybe straight isn’t the answer. Maybe it needs to be offset to match your personal asymmetry 😉

Snap 🙂

I would be interested. It seems to be even harder to get it right with the current shorter stems.

Maybe straight isn’t the answer. Maybe it needs to be offset to match your personal asymmetry

Bikefitters will be stocking up on my new patented range of glove and grip shims as soon as I can get my kickstarter off the ground 😀

Oh man – orthotic grips… that’s an new industry we never knew we needed right there!

I reckon you need to get bars manufactured with different reach, rise and bends on each side.

Those laser tools are madness – they’ll burn holes in your tyres

FFS

Ban this sick filth!!

Can cut straight with a hacksaw no bother, and I’m sure bars being straight makes no difference to anything except my OCD, but I’d still like a tool that got my bars straight for me.

needs moar lasers…

Man, that’s a great device – fits all requirements of a bike-specific tool

How about a plum bob?

2 small plumb bobs, blue tack one to each of the lower stem bolts… Should be easy to spot any misalignment against tyre tread

I tried the ruler method but my forks were off to the left so now both the bars and the forks are steering slightly to the left. Don’t know what to do…

Plumb line but a laser looks cool.

You joke wwaswas but some pro roadies do actually have different bar dimensions l/r

I tried the ruler method but my forks were off to the left so now both the bars and the forks are steering slightly to the left. Don’t know what to do…

try lifting up the rear wheel and moving it an inch or so to the right – you don’t need to force it; it’s not as hard as it sounds to realign a frameset in this way

Maybe this is a thing with road bikes but on a mountain bike I can’t say a slight bit out has ever bothered me. My arms are probably different lengths, the terrain I am riding on isn’t perfectly smooth and flat and I tend to just point the wheels where I want to go and don’t think about whether the bars are dead on or not.

As for using the inner face of the stem I would disagree as I remove the stem from the forks a lot more often than I remove the bars from the stem. Once I have a bar angle I am happy with (more important than the steering being slightly out) I try to avoid rotating them.