Help with a loose base bar!

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi, I have the FSA Vision Carbon base bar and aero clip on, plus the FSA Vision stem. It seems that no matter how much I tighten the base bar to the stem, every time I hit a big bump, the base bar would get knocked out of its position, and dip down a few degrees. This is a really annoying problem, and it actually happened to me once in a race. I don’t have a torque wrench, but I think I had tightened it to a point where I’m afraid to go any further before breaking the bolt.

Is any trick or suggestion to solve this problem? Thanks very much.

2

You could try Tacx assembly paste or something similar. Smear a little on the stem and base bar. Then again, you might want to bring your bike to a shop and get it looked at. Your base bar moving is dangerous.

3

I can’t stress this enough and I don’t understand how one spends thousands of dollars on bike equipment yet don’t own a Torque wrench. BUY ONE.

You may have over torqued all of your bolts and potentially ruined your parts.

I would also bring the bike to a shop and let them evaluate what the problem is.

Hope that helps and if you need a torque wrench, visit your local shop, Home Depot, etc.

4

Use installation paste. FSA sells a “carbon paste”, which is a gritty material that really helps with this.