Everybody probably already knows this, but a couple of notes on bolts & nuts.
Bolts are typically steel. If they go into steel they are typically fine thread, but not always. Sometimes using a taller nut and coarse thread is cheaper. If they go into aluminum they are almost always coarse thread. For metric bolts, if they have a thread identifier they are typically fine thread. No identifier means they are typically coarse thread. For this exercise, if a Nitto stem requires a fine thread, the bolt would be a M8 1.0 x 23. (8mm diameter, 1.0mm thread, 23mm length.) If a coarse thread was required - if, say, the triangular nut was aluminum - it would be a M8 x 23. (8mm diameter, 1.25mm thread, 23mm length.) So I trundle out to the garage and pull the bolt/nut from my standard Nitto 110mm stem… It came with a triangular nut, which is steel, and a fine thread M8 1.0 x 23 bolt (with a 1mm washer under the bolt head). I look at my long Nitto 100mm stem. Yes, I took it out of the pack just for this. It came with a hex nut that is pretty close to the flat in the stem, and a 35mm long coarse thread bolt. M8 x 35, also with a 1mm washer under the head. But a note - there is something called a Japan Industrial Standard, or JIS. Most metric M8 hex nuts are 13mm across the flats. The M8 JIS hex nut is 1mm smaller across the flat (12mm vs 13mm). If a design was supposed to have a standard metric nut, and you got a JIS hex nut, it would be just a tad smaller than a standard nut and would be easier to rotate against the flat (Paul’s #4). Out with the calipers again - the nut is 12mm across the flats. But this design looks like it was JIS from the beginning (MY hex nut certainly doesn’t spin), so I have to go with Paul on this. I think you just got a bad stem. JIS is also used for other parts of a bicycle, like those derailleur stop-screws that don’t quite fit Phillips screwdrivers. I don’t know if this helps at this point or is overcome by events, But if you just get a standard M8 coarse nut at Home Depot, it will eliminate the space between the nut and the shelf. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/64b0ed97-dcd0-4782-bfbd-edd3a42ab001o%40googlegroups.com.
