• Sorry to see your bike got vanned dude. Not a nice surprise. And yeah this is totally the right place to post.

    I can't tell what size the bar clamp is... but likely to be either 25.4mm or 26.0mm. Unlikely to be 26.4mm as that was mostly just Cinelli (I think ?).

    The stem looks dead yes. Don't trust it... because if/when it fails it'll likely be a moment of high speed and force, i.e. when you sprint out of the path of an oncoming bus or when you hit a pot hole at pace. Not the best moments to find the bars freely dancing in the air.

    The bars could be salvageable if you're really attached to them, but only if they're steel (use a magnet) and only if, of course, you can bend them back. But this comes with some risk.

    Seeing as you don't know the clamp size and you have no calipers, I'd recommend just sourcing a stem and handlebars that fit together. So a 1" quill stem in 24.5/26.0/26.4mm clamp size, with bars to match. Also, of course, take note of how long your stem is and get a similar one. Looks like you need one with a brake cable hole for centre-pull brakes - a little rarer but should be doable.

    The thumb shifters look cool. They are normal downtube gear shifters bolted onto handlebar bosses. Nothing is going to leap out at you when you unscrew the top bolt, but I highly recommend carefully laying out the parts in the order that they come off and also the same way up as they are assembled. And then take a phone picture of them. And only disassemble when you have the replacement parts ready to go.

  • cheers pal - really helpful. Definitely wishful thinking that I could keep the stem - I just can't really deal with not having a rideable bike for more than a few days so was hoping it might be a quick and easy job of just chucking any old bars on for now.

    I'm now thinking either quill stem + bars, or quill adapter + stem + bars. And then probably a fork mounted cable hanger so I can use a normal stem without worrying about the brake cable hole. Should be easier to find those parts than something closer to what I had before I reckon?

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