Darn Old Bikes! 21.15 mm Stems are So Last Century

To follow up on my, "Don't Over Tighten Your Bolts" post I searched far and wide to find a replacement stem for my Montgomery Ward Open Road (Sh!t Bike). You see the problem is old American Bicycles were made with thicker steerer tubes than their European counterparts. Old American bikes have a standard Stem diameter of 21.15 mm when everyone else produce 22.2 mm stems. 22.2 mm became the norm and producers stopped making 21.15 mm (We are talking the old school quill type). Well after some research, I found out Harris Cyclery had a few in stock for $24.95. $24.95 was way more than I wanted to spend on Shit Bike so after talking with the guys at Team CANIDAE, we came up with a solution. They suggested I give them a 22.2 mm stem and they'd machine it down to 21.15 mm.