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BEFORE

AFTER

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Context of a bicycle repurposing for adults

Kids bikes of 12", 16", 20" and 24", can be used by younger siblings until the youngest requires the 26" bike, which is considered as an adult one already.
While 12" and 16" wheel bikes cannot be upgraded for another use, the 20" kids bike is ideal for such upgrade and can be fitted with a higher seat and a higher handlebar so an adult can use it.
That same upgrade includes increasing the distance between the handlebar and the seat.
This tutotrial shows how to modify the steering bar in order to achieve the above shown result.

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Extending a bicycle headset tube and fitting a handlebar riser

Bike stems and handlebar risers are commonly available online, or in sports and bicycle selling stores.
When transforming a kids bike into an adult one, you need to acquire the longest handlebar stem and the biggest riser.

Take out the small cap that hides the handlebar fixing bolt, unscrew the bolt and remove the handlebar

Remove the front wheel and pull the fork out of the bike's frame

You will need to release the front brakes caliper cable to be able to take out the front wheel:

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There's a nut inside the existing headset tube which you need to remove prior to fitting the new stem.
This nut is inserted with a press; use first a large flat screwdriver to hit on the nut for deforming its toothed ring and taking it out. If this is not sufficient, find a pipe that goes inside the head tube as shown in the picture to the right so you can hit it with the whole fork.

Once done with the nut, you can now insert the new longer stem into the headset tube and re-assemble the fork.

Fit spacing rings into the new stem until reaching the required height. You need to buy a pack of these rings, also commonly available online and in stores:

You can use the existing handlebar riser or also buy and fit a bigger one in order to increase the distance between the seat and the steering bar of the bike. That's it!

See also...

Increasing the height of the seat

Re-assembling the fork to the frame

Buy your bicycle seat or steering bar extender here:

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