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UP-LEVELED VINTAGE STEM

Gerry Burgess Stem

This Gerry Burgess (GB) stem is original to my Raleigh Grand Sports. Like the entire bike, the stem showed its age and relative neglect. It also displays less-than-meticulous craftsmanship. I don’t know anything about metal fabrication, but I could see the lack of finishing detail. The stem had lots of rough machining that marred the overall elegant design. I really like its flowing shape and carved logo. So, tools in hand, I set out to bring out its beauty.

I used files to remove the major machining artifacts and radius the sharp edges. With the shape refined, I went through the time-tested sequence of ever-finer grits of sandpaper to get the metal super smooth. Finally, I applied metal polish to achieve a mirror-like shine.

As a last finishing detail, I changed out the clamp hardware. The original nut and bolt were fairly bulky. A low-profile hex-headed bolt and brake mounting nut serve to streamline the stem’s look.

The end result looks much more refined, a nice match to the rest of the bike’s components.