Raising bars by an inch or two advice

[16vGTI]

Hi. I'm wanting to raise the bars on my Specialized by about an inch or two, as at the moment I'm just a bit too stooped over to be comfortable (old age!).
The stem is at it's maximum extension so I'd like either a stem with a long insert or maybe a stem with a more relaxed angle. The 89 base model Hardrock had a 40° rise, whereas mine (Comp) has 24° rise, so if I could find some of those it would be good.

My '89 Hardrock

I did buy a quill stem extender which I haven't tried yet but I've seen pics of fitted ones and I'm not liking the looks of them that much, plus I think it would raise the stem by a minumum of about 4" which is more than I want. Not mine but found a pic of one fitted:

Any other ideas how to get the bars up? Or does anyone have any suitable high rise / long insert stems? (1" quill)

Cheers

 

[The Bear]

Re:

How about a set of riser bars? Typically they won't fit through single bolt stem clamps like you have but sometimes they can be persuaded, especially if the stem is steel (and a bit more resilient to bending a little!)

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

Buy a modern bike. There, I said it.

 

[ishaw]

You could try a quill to ahead adapter. This would also have the benefit of allowing you to run a 1 1/8 ahead stem if you wanted to?

 

[xerxes]

Re:

You can get tall quill stems, but they're not necessarily the lightest or prettiest things: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/stems-1-222 ... -threaded/

 

[16vGTI]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated.

I think I have found the answer - https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/stems/kallo ... ack-110mm/

Next question - any advice on getting the original foam grips off (& back on) without wrecking them??

 

[xerxes]

Re:

You may be able to re-use your existing foam grips, but you'll probably find that they've stretched when you re-fit them and turn on the handlebar, so you'll have to replace them.

I wouldn't drill a hole in the handlebar stem; use a cable hanger instead: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brake-spares-cable-hangers/

You can use one that fits between the headset top race and lock nut, like this:

Or ones that fit on the forks, like this, which has the advantage of allowing you to adjust the height of the stem, without adjusting the brakes:

PS. I don't have shares in SJS cycles, they just have a good range of odds and ends like this that a lot of shops don't seem to carry.

 

[Leighcal]

No don't drill the stem! You will need a headset thingy! I can't remember name but it goes on steerer as a spacer. There's probably a few other ways that I'm not aware of.

 

[16vGTI]

Thanks guys! Some good suggestions to think about there.