safest stem?

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike components, I
always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

Seems to me that a stem is a good place to use some steel that's less
brittle than aluminum. Salsa makes a steel threadless stem that costs
about $40USD. Very nice stuff. Then again, I've got a stupid amount of
miles on aluminum stems without failure. Maybe I'm just not man enough
to wrench it apart. :sigh:

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike components, I
always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

just buy an ordinary stem and replace it every 20k or so if you want to
be real safe. replace handlebars at the same time. use o/s
stem/handlebars of the highest quality you can afford too if you want to
be even safer. cold forged.

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike components, I
always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

So, you have all this personal experience with the reliability of these
stems, but yet you are paranoid about them braking? Yes, I know that
stems have been known to break, and sometimes without the rider being
aware until it failed catastrophically. But this is a rare occurrence.
Certainly seat post failures are more common, and painful to contemplate.
Are you as paranoid about those? Forks can fail, cranks, etc. Usually
there are warning signs, if you will look for them. Do that, or give up
the sport as being too dangerous.

I sincerely doubt that there is a single stem that is unbreakable. Yes,
steel would be less likely to fail without obvious warnings, but then you
should also use steel cranks, seatposts, and forks by that logic.
Certainly cost does not correlate with failure risk, in fact some of the
most expensive are expensive precisely because they are lighter, hence
weaker.

Stuff happens, but it happens less if you watch for signs of cracking, and
listen for new creaks and other unusual noises. And yes, a broken stem can
cause a fall. But you can fall with a perfectly sound bike as well.

Relax and enjoy the ride.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I can
_`\(,_ | assure you that mine are all greater. -- A. Einstein
(_)/ (_) |

"Callistus Valerius" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike components,

I

Quoted message said:

always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

Probably something sexy and practical like this, available from any local
bike shop with a QBP catalog:
http://harriscyclery.net/page.cfm?PageID=49&action=details&sku=SM9252

/sarcasm

landotter said:

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike components, I
always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

Seems to me that a stem is a good place to use some steel that's less
brittle than aluminum. Salsa makes a steel threadless stem that costs
about $40USD. Very nice stuff. Then again, I've got a stupid amount of
miles on aluminum stems without failure. Maybe I'm just not man enough
to wrench it apart. :sigh:

Dude was riding a Fuji track bike, geared at 53x13 (in Atlanta's rolling
terrain). He was sprinting up a hill (faster than anyone around him,
mind you) and then this happened:
http://tinyurl.com/ycdg73
http://tinyurl.com/ydlwa7

\\paul

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face
plate so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike
components, I always look at the stem as the most scary, as a
failure would be catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break
that looked a hell of a lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the
paranoia. I've ridden around a 100,000 miles and never had a
failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt stems, and never a
failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a thing as a
fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

For non-quill stems, I would consider only ones with redundancy, such
as four bolt clamp plate and two stem clamp bolts. Without that one
bolt failure leaves the bicycle with a detached handlebar. In other
words, neither steering nor brakes. Not a recoverable situation
considering that such a bolt failure would be occurring at a stressful
instant.

Jobst Brandt

Paul Hobson said:

Dude was riding a Fuji track bike, geared at 53x13 (in Atlanta's rolling
terrain).

Slightly less steep than our Nashville hills, but still--that's a nutso
gear on the street. I ride 42x15 fixed around here and moan that I
gotta get a 16. Now I really feel inadequate. ;-)

Quoted message said:

He was sprinting up a hill (faster than anyone around him,
mind you) and then this happened:
http://tinyurl.com/ycdg73
http://tinyurl.com/ydlwa7

That looks like an absolute [censored] weld in the first place! Scary! I've
never had anything major break on a bike. [/me knocks on desk]

***
off topic:

While I got your attention, what's a good and fairly cheap place to
grab eats in Atlanta that's got some local flair? I'll be passing
through this spring and staying over by that new IKEA store.
Traditional southern is nice, but if there's international cuisine of
merit in the area, that's my cuppa as well. Hole in the wall sorta
place is preferred, and if it's just a shack with a window and a Coke
machine then it'll likely get 5 landotter stars! I'll eat anything from
decent vegetarian (hold the sprouts) to pork cracklins.

Shame I won't have room for a bike in the car, I'd have hooked up with
ya for a fixie tour de 'lanta. Five people in a Jetta, this should be
fun...

Paul Hobson said:

landotter said:

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face
plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike
components, I
always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell
of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden
around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4
bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there
such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

Seems to me that a stem is a good place to use some steel that's less
brittle than aluminum. Salsa makes a steel threadless stem that costs
about $40USD. Very nice stuff. Then again, I've got a stupid amount of
miles on aluminum stems without failure. Maybe I'm just not man enough
to wrench it apart. :sigh:

Dude was riding a Fuji track bike, geared at 53x13 (in Atlanta's rolling
terrain). He was sprinting up a hill (faster than anyone around him,
mind you) and then this happened:
http://tinyurl.com/ycdg73
http://tinyurl.com/ydlwa7

which is why i say stick to single-piece cold forged stems! [apart from
the clamp of course.]

landotter said:

Paul Hobson said:

Dude was riding a Fuji track bike, geared at 53x13 (in Atlanta's rolling
terrain).

Slightly less steep than our Nashville hills, but still--that's a nutso
gear on the street. I ride 42x15 fixed around here and moan that I
gotta get a 16. Now I really feel inadequate. ;-)

He's since switched to 48x15 having learned the benefits of a higher
cadence (shakes head)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

He was sprinting up a hill (faster than anyone around him,
mind you) and then this happened:
http://tinyurl.com/ycdg73
http://tinyurl.com/ydlwa7

That looks like an absolute [censored] weld in the first place! Scary! I've
never had anything major break on a bike. [/me knocks on desk]

Yeah. That was our assessment as well. Still, dude's an animal. He's
about 5' 9" - 10". Slender and not much taller than me...but massive
legs. He also lives off of coffee, candy, and the occasional beer.

Quoted message said:

***
off topic:

While I got your attention, what's a good and fairly cheap place to
grab eats in Atlanta that's got some local flair? I'll be passing
through this spring and staying over by that new IKEA store.

Ah, my old side of town (still where I commute to everyday).

Quoted message said:

Traditional southern is nice, but if there's international cuisine of
merit in the area, that's my cuppa as well. Hole in the wall sorta
place is preferred, and if it's just a shack with a window and a Coke
machine then it'll likely get 5 landotter stars! I'll eat anything from
decent vegetarian (hold the sprouts) to pork cracklins.

Trad. Southern:
-Bobby & June Country Kitchen on 14th St between Mecaslin St and State
St (this is right next to Atlantic Station/IKEA)
-Son's Place at Hurt St and Decatur Ave

Vegan/Black Hebrew Southern:
-Soul Vegetarian No. 2 on N. Highland between Ponce de Leon and North
Ave (a little pricey, but good!)

*Authentic* _Cuban_ sandwiches
-Kool Korner's on 14th and State St (*hole* in wall, take out only, but
damn good at $4.70 a piece after tax).

As a last resort, go to Eat's on Ponce. Bobby and June's is probably
right up your alley and damn close to where you'll be. The hours are
shifted kind of early (6am - 2pm?), so you definitely need to be there
by not long after "lunchtime." It's pretty busy, but you tend get
seated fairly quickly. I prefer Son's personally as it's more 'Soul'
food than 'Southern' (shades of gray, really), but much less convenient
to find. Also, if you end up spending too much money at IKEA, eat
there. It's dirt cheap and pretty alright too.

Quoted message said:

Shame I won't have room for a bike in the car, I'd have hooked up with
ya for a fixie tour de 'lanta. Five people in a Jetta, this should be
fun...

Question: how are you going to be getting anything home? I'm a student
a GA Tech (a few blocks from AS/IKEA), drop me a buzz off line for a
phone number if you get lost/whatever. (switch the words to numbers)
\\paul

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Seems to me that a stem is a good place to use some steel that's less
brittle than aluminum. Salsa makes a steel threadless stem that costs
about $40USD. Very nice stuff. Then again, I've got a stupid amount of
miles on aluminum stems without failure. Maybe I'm just not man enough
to wrench it apart. :sigh:

Dude was riding a Fuji track bike, geared at 53x13 (in Atlanta's rolling
terrain). He was sprinting up a hill (faster than anyone around him,
mind you) and then this happened:
http://tinyurl.com/ycdg73
http://tinyurl.com/ydlwa7

which is why i say stick to single-piece cold forged stems! [apart from
the clamp of course.]

You mean like the one I had fail? It was a Mavic forged aluminum stem, and
the bottom part of the handlebar clamp, where the tightening bolt threaded
into, simply pulled away from the rest of the stem. The threads didn't
strip, but rather the section the threads were in just separated. I replaced
that with an Ibis titanium stem; the handlebar pinch bolt broke on that one
(and during a sprint, no less... why I didn't go down is completely beyond
me).

Now I've got a massively-big & sorta ugly Bontrager carbon stem, which would
probably take a chainsaw to kill. 140 grams, which is about 40 grams heavier
than some of the modern ultralight aluminum stems these days. Yeah, it would
be nicer if they'd engineer something a bit lighter, but it's also nice that
I don't worry about stem failures anymore.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"jim beam" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Paul Hobson said:

landotter said:

Callistus Valerius wrote:
> What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face
> plate
> so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike
> components, I
> always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
> catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of
> a
> lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden
> around a
> 100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4
> bolt
> stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there
> such a
> thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

Seems to me that a stem is a good place to use some steel that's less
brittle than aluminum. Salsa makes a steel threadless stem that costs
about $40USD. Very nice stuff. Then again, I've got a stupid amount of
miles on aluminum stems without failure. Maybe I'm just not man enough
to wrench it apart. :sigh:

Dude was riding a Fuji track bike, geared at 53x13 (in Atlanta's rolling
terrain). He was sprinting up a hill (faster than anyone around him,
mind you) and then this happened:
http://tinyurl.com/ycdg73
http://tinyurl.com/ydlwa7

which is why i say stick to single-piece cold forged stems! [apart from
the clamp of course.]

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc?

Thomson Elite is the strongest, most proven stem for its weight that I
know of.

Paul Hobson said:

Ah, my old side of town (still where I commute to everyday).

Quoted message said:

Traditional southern is nice, but if there's international cuisine of
merit in the area, that's my cuppa as well. Hole in the wall sorta
place is preferred, and if it's just a shack with a window and a Coke
machine then it'll likely get 5 landotter stars! I'll eat anything from
decent vegetarian (hold the sprouts) to pork cracklins.

Trad. Southern:
-Bobby & June Country Kitchen on 14th St between Mecaslin St and State
St (this is right next to Atlantic Station/IKEA)
-Son's Place at Hurt St and Decatur Ave

I've heard great stuff about Son's! I'm a greens lover, so we'll see if
they stack up to Nashville's Swett's.

Quoted message said:

Vegan/Black Hebrew Southern:
-Soul Vegetarian No. 2 on N. Highland between Ponce de Leon and North
Ave (a little pricey, but good!)

Sounds crazy! On the short list. Who doesn't love
Vegan/Black/Hebrew/Southern cuisine? LOL My passengers are semi-veg
Swedish salon-commies, so they'll probably pass out from the
authenticity.

Quoted message said:

*Authentic* _Cuban_ sandwiches
-Kool Korner's on 14th and State St (*hole* in wall, take out only, but
damn good at $4.70 a piece after tax).

That is the thing I'm talkin' about! Yeah!

Quoted message said:

As a last resort, go to Eat's on Ponce. Bobby and June's is probably
right up your alley and damn close to where you'll be. The hours are
shifted kind of early (6am - 2pm?), so you definitely need to be there
by not long after "lunchtime." It's pretty busy, but you tend get
seated fairly quickly. I prefer Son's personally as it's more 'Soul'

Know zaktly what you're talking about. Son's is the top of the list.

Quoted message said:

food than 'Southern' (shades of gray, really), but much less convenient
to find. Also, if you end up spending too much money at IKEA, eat
there. It's dirt cheap and pretty alright too.

Har, I've eaten at half a dozen IKEA's. The food is actualy quite
spectacular for the money. I'm a Swede and was chagrined when I got the
meatball special in 'lanta last time. Tasted just like in Gothenburg.
😄

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Shame I won't have room for a bike in the car, I'd have hooked up with
ya for a fixie tour de 'lanta. Five people in a Jetta, this should be
fun...

Question: how are you going to be getting anything home? I'm a student
a GA Tech (a few blocks from AS/IKEA), drop me a buzz off line for a
phone number if you get lost/whatever. (switch the words to numbers)
\\paul

Not there for shopping, Paul, just that I'm having relatives fly over
from Swedeland. We'll be sending them off and welcoming them in Memphis
and Atlanta to save some bucks. Got some killer hotel discounts from a
friend of my momma's so we can make the pickup and dropoff points a bit
of a party.

Thanks so much for the recommendations, Paul! More than I could ever
have found on those internet tubes. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster
annoint you!

-Max in Nashville

Paul Hobson said:

Dude was riding a Fuji track bike, geared at 53x13 (in Atlanta's rolling
terrain). He was sprinting up a hill (faster than anyone around him,
mind you) and then this happened:
http://tinyurl.com/ycdg73
http://tinyurl.com/ydlwa7

Looking at the first picture, the fracture surface that is closest to
the table, on both the quill and the extension, looks dark. If you
put the stem back together and looked at it from the front of the
bike, the area I'm talking about would be at 3 to 5 o'clock. If this
is not a trick of the light, it suggests there was already a fairly
substantial crack in the stem before the final separation.

Something about the way the exposed crack surface on the quill
doesn't touch the quill tube makes me wonder if the extension was
mitered carefully to fit onto the quill, although maybe it was and
the mitered surface is all hidden under the weld.

Ben

landotter said:

While I got your attention, what's a good and fairly cheap place to
grab eats in Atlanta that's got some local flair?

Waffle House?

http://www.lhthomson.com/elite_x4.htm

Tim McTeague

What about 2 stem bolts 4 handlebar bolts with adjustable stem?

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?sku=10679&PID=1204522

Above looks like $79 Oval stem but only $20. Blindly buying fixed stems
after another seems stupid to me. But need stem adapter, stem, bars,
and tape ($59 + shipping from 2 places).

This is not spam, but the result of hours of stem research :-)

Thanks!!

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike components, I
always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

I think you should use whatever you currently use, but replace it
regularly -- perhap every 50K or 80K miles.

That said, I'd speculate Salsa steel stems and lower-end Ritchey stems
are particularly durable.

--
JT
****************************
Remove "remove" to reply
Visit http://www.jt10000.com
****************************

Callistus Valerius said:

What would be the safest threadless road stem out there, with a face plate
so you don't have to remove the shifters etc? Of all the bike components, I
always look at the stem as the most scary, as a failure would be
catastrophic. I've seen lots of metal [censored] break that looked a hell of a
lot stronger than a bicycle stem, thus the paranoia. I've ridden around a
100,000 miles and never had a failure, and I have had two bolt and 4 bolt
stems, and never a failure or a crack in any of them. But is there such a
thing as a fail-safe one, with the specs I listed?

Ritchey Comp or Salsa steel one.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

For non-quill stems, I would consider only ones with redundancy, such
as four bolt clamp plate and two stem clamp bolts. Without that one
bolt failure leaves the bicycle with a detached handlebar. In other
words, neither steering nor brakes. Not a recoverable situation
considering that such a bolt failure would be occurring at a stressful
instant.

Detatching the handlebars doesnt' necessarily cause brake loss. Ok, it's
probably not going to be easy when you're not ready for it, and drops will
be harder than flats, but I did once ride a bike home with brakes but no
steering - you just hold the bars and remember that moving them doesnt'
achieve anything :-)

cheers,
clive