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@Tash
So, this weekend I decided to try stripping an old dawes complete I got off this forum, and build it up as a beater for a mate to get him on a bike (all for under £50).
Successfully got the old brake calipers off, removed all the rusty gearing and brake wires, removed the chainset and cranks (all still fine and useable, including bottom bracket), sanded off the wheel rust and got some tyres and inners for the wheels...
When it got to removing the old drops and brake levers, I failed massively. Couldn't work out how to take off the levers, so I couldn't slide out the drops. So I tried to widen the quill stem by pulling out the drops..and lo, the stem totally broke.
Now I am faced with the horror of trying to not only remove the quill stem (which I am completely unfamiliar with having only worked with ahead stems and modern bikes), but finding a free replacement stem to fit 25.4 bars. Presumably it would be very unsafe to try and glue the stem back together.
Dammit - if only I could have removed the drop levers, this would never have happened!!
My question: is removing the quill stem as simple as undoing the bolt on the top with an allen key? And possibly hitting it with a block of wood after leaving it to soak in a bit of GT85, as utfs has revealed?
Thanks all