Hmm, I got the replacement front fork for my old Blue Mk2, but all is not well. Please could someone describe / post pics of what the bottom of the handlebar stem (which goes in the top of the fork tube) is supposed to look like?

I think the bottom of mine must've snapped off a long time ago, and is stuck in the old fork tube as you might be able to see in the following photos (handlebar stem on the left, old fork in the middle, new fork on the right):





Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

They have snapped off mate. You will need some new bars as they wont be long enough to able to grip the locking nut that slides up the middle of the bars that stops them from turning.

As Carling says they have snapped, you could make a clean cut at base then cut a groove for the lock nut to fit into, the stems are easily long enough, a shame to waste these bars if the foams good, this is what i'd do  

Yes mark this may work if theres enough stem left its worth a go mate. He will just have to make sure the end is small enough to fit inside the forks.

I reckon the amount you can see in the pic will be enough, hopefully there is more  

Thanks for the advice guys... I manage to knock the bits out of the fork tube, looks like I've lost about 25-30mm off the end of the handlebar stem, which means it's just too short for the thread on the original mounting bolt.  Luckily I think ~130mm is still long enough to use with a slightly shorter bolt(+nut) and a bit of repair-work to the end of the stem. I'll let you know what heppens and post some more pics.

That should be enough mate, forgot anout the stem bolt thread   have a measure and let us know what length suits best after you've cut the stem, ive got a fair few sizes of these floating about

Cheers mate... I've not been able to work on the bike for a little while, but in the end I managed to rework the snapped end of the stem and get hold of a die and extend the thread another couple of centimetres up the original bolt using a standard 5/16" BSF die (26 threads per inch), though the orignal thread was most likely BSCY. Anyway, it's sorted now and the bike is rideable again... Thanks again for your advice

top work mate, most people would of given up on fixing the bars.