cheapie wal mart stem keeps coming loose with my mx bars any ideas?

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heartlandcruisers

heartlandcruisers

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well i have discovered a problem that is beginning to irk me a lot with ym recent build.
I have a huffy cruiser I just built up form old parts and it rides good except one kind of major issue.. the handlebars keep moving forward.
no matter how much I tighten them they still manage to move and I have to keep adjusting the bolts.
this is becoming a major safety concern because I ride this bike hard and it has caused a few spills
now where I can just lick my wounds and laugh it off I am concerned if I let my 12 year old daughter ride this and the bars shift she could get hurt pretty bad.
any ideas where to look for issues/ or what I can do? or are the mx bars not compatible with a cheapie stem.
any info would be appreciated I don't really want to pu tan expensive stem on a bike im just going to beat the bejesus out of.
thanks
Sean
p.s. here is the stem I am using
 
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My first thought was to drill the stem and throw a bolt in there since its a wally world off spring. Depends if you care about the bars tho?

Maybe some small amounts of lock tite on the bolt threads?

the bolts slowly coming loose during riding?
 
Well I do not wanna ruin the bars their in really good shape
I will try to tighten the Allen bolts more but they don't wanna turn,anymore nut I'm sure I can get them to move
 
I would look to see if it tight enough, then I would look at the center of the bars and see if the manufacture had put in deep enough sirrations on handle bars. Then last thing would be replace the stem and then the bars themselves if they still move.
 
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Do those bars have a bulge(25.4mm) in the middle or are they straight(22.2mm) across in the clamp area?

That stem is meant to clamp down on (22.2mm or 7/8") bars.
 
Cut a shim from a piece of beer can, wrap it around the contact area and tighten the heck out of the 4 allen screws. Use LocTite if you have some. Take a look at the screws and threads in the stem to see if they are messed up- new and better quality screws could solve the problem.
 
The bolts don't appear to be equally tightened, some are run in deeper and some appear to be out more. This can cause unequal pressure with part of the bar looser, but you still can't tighten it enough in this situation, all 4 should be equally tight. You could try loosening all of them and rotate your tightening until they are all in about the same and then work around, tighten one a little and go across diagonally to the one opposite and continue until you can't get it tighter. This might help?
 
cman said:
Do those bars have a bulge(25.4mm) in the middle or are they straight(22.2mm) across in the clamp area?

That stem is meant to clamp down on (22.2mm or 7/8") bars.
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yes that does seem to be a problem there is a slight bulge in bars themselves I think you are correct on that being the problem for now
 
us56456712 said:
The bolts don't appear to be equally tightened, some are run in deeper and some appear to be out more. This can cause unequal pressure with part of the bar looser, but you still can't tighten it enough in this situation, all 4 should be equally tight. You could try loosening all of them and rotate your tightening until they are all in about the same and then work around, tighten one a little and go across diagonally to the one opposite and continue until you can't get it tighter. This might help?
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yes I tried that and still loose I decided to swap it out for now until I can find a better stem.
 
well I decided to swap the stem out with another one until I can buy a decent one the new stem does work better but still loose I am thinking the problem is the stems aren't designed for these kind of bars or the screws are not long enough to accompany the handlebars nonetheless I put this on the back burner for now until I can find a good stem to work with these bars
more updates soon
sean
 
Making shims from a aluminum can and wrapping them around the clamped area of the bars usually fixes the problem even if your using incorrect sized bars and stems.
 
There's a whole lot of excellent advice on here, but we need to find out more info before we can figure out the best course of action. However, I agree with the folks above who speculated that your bars are 1" at the bulge, and the stem is designed for 7/8" diameter bars. If that's the case, no amount of shimming, hardware changes, or careful tightening will help you. Measure the bar, and make sure it matcnes the stem you decide to use. From there, you can use some/all of the other suggestions if need-be.
 
Bicycle808 said:
There's a whole lot of excellent advice on here, but we need to find out more info before we can figure out the best course of action. However, I agree with the folks above who speculated that your bars are 1" at the bulge, and the stem is designed for 7/8" diameter bars. If that's the case, no amount of shimming, hardware changes, or careful tightening will help you. Measure the bar, and make sure it matcnes the stem you decide to use. From there, you can use some/all of the other suggestions if need-be.
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actually you are spot on bicycle808 I measured the bars and it is a 1 inch at the bulge and the stem does not tighten enough to stop it from moving.
thanks for all the advice but I just decided to swap the stem out with a different one and it seems to be working now.
sean
 
heartlandcruisers said:
actually you are spot on bicycle808 I measured the bars and it is a 1 inch at the bulge and the stem does not tighten enough to stop it from moving.
thanks for all the advice but I just decided to swap the stem out with a different one and it seems to be working now.
sean
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:thumbsup:

KJV said:
I'm running 1" bars on 7/8 stem, type your using. Never had problem. of course I know how to draw down evenly.
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:39:
 

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