1993 Brodie Catalyst

[MuchAlohaNui]

Managed to secure some hardware.
130mm Ti bolt to try to make up for the rather portly steel construction.

View attachment 779943

View attachment 779944

That’s a good start
Keep going!

 

[rigidftw]

Always a good idea to have a stick at hand to prop up the bike.

 

[rigidftw]

Trip to the local woods with the kids.
Pulled along the 6yo with the tow rope up the climb. Proper hard work with the 3yo on the passenger seat!

 

[rigidftw]

It's red. Colour itself is a good match to the frame, but the finish is not ideal. But at least it's red.

Now to try and fit the hardware...

Not quite.
How about that wedge?

Close. But not perfect. Might be ok, though.

So, how do I make that cap fit without a lathe?

 

[rigidftw]

Like this:

Found a better way of clamping the cap midway through

And it's in!

...and the bolt is too short. Looks like I'll have to get out my grinder to shorten that quill

 

[Prodigal Son]

Like this:

Found a better way of clamping the cap midway through

And it's in!

...and the bolt is too short. Looks like I'll have to get out my grinder to shorten that quill

Get a longer bolt. It´s just... a bolt.

 

[rigidftw]

Get a longer bolt. It´s just... a bolt.

You're right. Did not manage to find a suitable Ti one, though.

 

[rigidftw]

While trying to fit the stem cap I had the fleeting suspicion that the handlebar clamp is not all that perfectly aligned with the rest of the stem.

I did some measurements with the handlebar of my choice installed:

The left end is about 4mm higher than the right end of the handlebar.

Watching Paul work in his YT videos I expected the stem to be aligned absolutely perfectly. On the other hand I'm not sure what one really can expect from a hand-built stem. Any thoughts?

Also this stem is quite portly. Just under 370g with steel bolts and an aluminium wedge.
That Kona Velocity stem at the bottom of the photo is 300g exactly with one more steel bolt and some brake cable routing.
The Thomson stem and quill stem adapter I ran on there before were lighter as well.

I am not all that chuffed, to be honest.
Let's hope I won't notice the misaligment while riding. At least it looks the part.

 

[mk one]

I find little things like that become big things over a long ride.

Does look good on the bike though

 

[Canuckbiker]

Too bad you aren’t 100% happy with the stem, it is beautiful. The weight is pretty typical of this old school stem design, the Ritchey force on my 88’ RM weights 355g. The Velocity’s make use of other weight saving approaches not used on this fillet brazed unit.

I’d be tempted to reach out to Paul for advice on the clamp alignment concern. A degree or so may make all the difference if there is a way to safely tweek the clamp.