How well is your cockpit aligned right now? It may be close, but is it perfect? Short of finding a mechanic with the perfect eye, aligning your stem and handlebar typically involves eyeballing it, maybe giving it a few taps with your hand on one side, and going for a ride to see how close you got it. And then coming back and doing it all over again because it’s not straight.
We’ve seen a few different alignment tools over the years to do this very thing, some of which involve lasers. But for DNR Designs, their K.I.T. or Keep It True alignment tool is all analog. Made and assembled in Greenville, South Carolina, the tool is fairly simple.
Start by mounting the handlebar clamps to your bar. The adjustable clamps allow for nearly any type of handlebar to be used including MTB, BMX, Road, CX, Gravel, and more.
Once attached to the bar, the lower part of the tool is adjusted so that it will properly rest on the fork blades or the stanchions of your suspension fork. The tool has an adjustability range of 10-17″ to work with different styles and sizes of bikes.
From there, you simply rotate the stem and bar assembly, until the lower part of the tool rests evenly on both fork legs. Then tighten down the stem. The patented system pretty much guarantees a properly aligned cockpit. But with the tool priced at $187 (marked down from $220), it seems more likely that this will find a home at your local bike shop rather than in your garage.
