This change is relatively recent, certainly in the last 10 years. I think it occurred after Cinelli, TTT and Columbus were all combined under a common ownership. The older styles of bars featuring some sort of crest engraved on the bars (older ones have more elaborate designs) will be 26.4. The newer ones with only the Cinelli name (including the "flying C") and the model name and bar width could be either 26.4 or 26.0. I don't own a 26.0 example, only see them in catalogs, so it is possible there is a way to distinguish I am not aware of. They might even be marked "26.0" somewhere. In the 70's and 80's, Cinelli and TTT bars/ stems were mixed a lot, despite the size difference. It was a little more difficult to install Cinelli bars in a TTT stem without scratching it, and a Cinelli stem had to be tightened more to keep a TTT bar from slipping, but a lot of guys used these combinations without ever even knowing there was a size difference. Probably a few bike even mixed the two as OE, just as Raleigh Pros often came with 25.4 engraved GB bars with 26.0 TTT stems.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
> My understanding is that Cinelli bars had a diameter of 26.4, then they
> switched to 26.0.
>
> Does anyone know when this occurred?
>
> Did the switch cover all models?
>
> Is there a way to tell from labels whether a particular bar or stem is
26.4
> or 26.0?
>
> Is it possible to fit a 26.4 bar in a 26.0 stem?
>
> Thanks,
> Marcus Helman
> Huntington Woods, MI