Charlie, the old French bars were 25.0mm. The best replacement is probably the Belleri 16D, an unengraved bar like the AVA which Sheldon still sells. Mike Kone sold them for a while also. I replaced a cracked AVA on my 1972 PX-10 with this bar, and it looks very authentic. You probably could use a 25.4 Nitto, but installing the bars in the stem will be harder. I've never actually seen a broken AVA stem, though reliable people say these did crack. I personally do use old AVA stems, as I think they are less of a problem than the bars. I think to old "lugged" looking stems with exposed expander bolt were more suspect than the later recessed bolt models, but some of the LBS owners may have seen more of these than I have and may have a broader basis for an opinion.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
-----Original Message---- From: youngc@netreach.net [mailto:youngc@netreach.net] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 8:32 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]AVA stems risky?
Folks:
I am considering replacing the AVA (death) bar on my 74-ish Peugeot PR-10L for safety reasons. Are the AVA stems also prone to spontaneous failure? This stem has a recessed allen bolt for the binder and is cutaway in the front above the clamp bolt. Kind of cute the way the AVA engraving on the bar shows through,
but if it is out to hurt me, I'll replace it.
If the stem is OK, will it work with a Nitto 25.4mm moustache bar? My calipers show the AVA bar at 25.2mm (they may be a little generous). Don't be affronted by the substitution, if it were a bit (OK, a lot) prettier, I'd probably put a Belleri or ATAX combination on it...
Charlie Young Honeybrook, PA Who can find enough ways to damage himself without using faulty equipment.