The Canfield stem is in stock, http://www.canfieldbrothers.com/products/stem
It's on the web store or call Chris, 801-548-2556
SOOOOOO many stem choices !!
- Thread starter GPERKINS
- Start date
It's on the web store or call Chris, 801-548-2556
these are so Awesome.... but will run a pretty penny...
http://www.foride.com
I ran the e13 Ali Direct mount stem for 2 season and no problems at all...
http://www.foride.com
I ran the e13 Ali Direct mount stem for 2 season and no problems at all...
Not entirely sure. It sure feels quite light! Especially considering it's appearance. I don't have a scale handy so maybe someone else could chime in?
I had a ton of problems with mine. Maybe not a ton, but enough to replace it.
They made the gap between the face(s) and body(s) too narrow- a result of the 28.6/31.8mm compatibility. As a result, there wasn't enough of a gap to get a good grip on my bars- the faces touched each other (bottomed out) before the bar was sufficiently clamped...resulted in a lot of creaking. I resorted to cutting up a beer can and using it as SHIMZ to increase the diameter of my bar so the stem could get a grip. Then I sold the POS and replaced it with a lighter and better designed sunline.
The overall design is a bit outdated too...overly blocky, corners sticking out, heavy, my stem was miscolored too; one face was purpler than the other.
I dig the new one from froride. very clean and not surprising that somebody used that style.
Interesting write up from DW on direct mount stems (7075 vs 6061): http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225631
Theres a new Chromag Boxxer mount stem coming 2010, based off the Ranger stem design. Called the Commander i think?
There will be lighter stems out there, but i am pretty sold on Chromags function/strength/reliability approach to design.
I question the claim that other stems are dangerous. With pros, thousands of riders, and a huge number of these things on both the used and new markets, wouldn't there be a higher incidence of breakage? Seems to me that the data doesn't tell the whole story....perhaps e.13's definition of "unsafe" is unrealistic of what real-world riders actually see. The only failures I have seen have been from catastrophic wrecks, ie who cares if the stem bends, you're already off the bike, ti bolts, or from poor maintenance.
Glad to hear I wasn't the only one with problems...seems like you bring up something e13 did wrong, and you get sh.t on immediately on these forums.
another vote for sunline
IMO that was a great post by DW....and also mirrors my thoughts. I am old enough to have seen and know the results of underdesigned bike parts due over-rated weight concerns. I also have the educational background to help me understand how these small changes in materials and loss of a few (absolutely meaningless in the real world) grams can make SIGNIFICANT changes in the durability of parts.
Case in point...All the foride stems.
The regular mount is larger than needed, and requires the removal of the stem cap and spacers to get to the bars, uses just as many bolts as any other design, the vertical clamp design cantilevers the bars out over two very small/thin support 'spars' and has a large, smooth, flat, aluminum-aluminum contact surface...no alignment pins, no friction prevention???? HOLLOW TI BOLTS??? Talk about creaking....
The DM stem DOES NOT HAVE A REMOVEABLE FACEPLATE! (not to mention that it has only 2/3 the material of the current 'light weight' stems.) Depending on the bar, and the clamp width, it is very possible that you would need to remove the stem from the fork to get it off the bars (that would require removal of the shifter.brake.grip) This design has not even been used on wall-mart bikes for 10 years.
As long as people are so easily swayed by marketing to overpriced, unreliable, disposable bling....that is what mfg will provide.
Some of these products may hold up while 'simply riding down the hill', but are people SOO caught up in looking cool and saving the weight of a toenail trimming, that they are willing to replace hundreds of dollars in parts every time they have a simple fall????
I personally have other things to spend my $$ and time on....and know for a fact (30 years of bike racing and riding) that the loss of a few grams means less than nothing to a bikes performance....
As for the e-13 stem..
It certainly could have been more refined, but it was really THE first (and still on e of the only to offer different lengths), and was/is a super solid product. As for noises and fit...it had a hard-anno coating (opposed to the cheap shiny decorative anno on most parts) that results in larger changes to tollerances (the anno is thicker) as well as a rougher, harder surface. They also came stock with grade 12.9 cap heads with some sort of (good)anti-corrosion coating. The combination of these two (highest quality custom parts spec) created some bolt heads and threads that were a bit tight(interferance).
Anti seizing the bolts (threads and heads, like ALL should be) and threading them all the way in and out a few times solves the tight thread issue...and prevents creaking.
I have mounted several different models and brands of bars in various sizes in the e-13 stem wihout a single problem with clamp bore sizing, although you are right, the pinch gap is smaller than the 'norm' (making for a stronger interface). Maybe you had a bad stem? Maybe an undersized/crushed bar?
I certainly dont think ANY mfg is unfalable. I welcome and fully think that this is a proper forum to voice opinion and experience with bike products. BUT....99% of the time I read about someone complaining about how crappy some part is (here or at other forums), it is due to incorrect usage, lack of maintainance, or general misunderstanding of the product.
A quick call to the mfg, or a well worded question about the problem on a forum like this, will usually result in several very helpful answers (among a whole bunch of useless crap).
Case in point...All the foride stems.
The regular mount is larger than needed, and requires the removal of the stem cap and spacers to get to the bars, uses just as many bolts as any other design, the vertical clamp design cantilevers the bars out over two very small/thin support 'spars' and has a large, smooth, flat, aluminum-aluminum contact surface...no alignment pins, no friction prevention???? HOLLOW TI BOLTS??? Talk about creaking....
The DM stem DOES NOT HAVE A REMOVEABLE FACEPLATE! (not to mention that it has only 2/3 the material of the current 'light weight' stems.) Depending on the bar, and the clamp width, it is very possible that you would need to remove the stem from the fork to get it off the bars (that would require removal of the shifter.brake.grip) This design has not even been used on wall-mart bikes for 10 years.
As long as people are so easily swayed by marketing to overpriced, unreliable, disposable bling....that is what mfg will provide.
Some of these products may hold up while 'simply riding down the hill', but are people SOO caught up in looking cool and saving the weight of a toenail trimming, that they are willing to replace hundreds of dollars in parts every time they have a simple fall????
I personally have other things to spend my $$ and time on....and know for a fact (30 years of bike racing and riding) that the loss of a few grams means less than nothing to a bikes performance....
As for the e-13 stem..
It certainly could have been more refined, but it was really THE first (and still on e of the only to offer different lengths), and was/is a super solid product. As for noises and fit...it had a hard-anno coating (opposed to the cheap shiny decorative anno on most parts) that results in larger changes to tollerances (the anno is thicker) as well as a rougher, harder surface. They also came stock with grade 12.9 cap heads with some sort of (good)anti-corrosion coating. The combination of these two (highest quality custom parts spec) created some bolt heads and threads that were a bit tight(interferance).
Anti seizing the bolts (threads and heads, like ALL should be) and threading them all the way in and out a few times solves the tight thread issue...and prevents creaking.
I have mounted several different models and brands of bars in various sizes in the e-13 stem wihout a single problem with clamp bore sizing, although you are right, the pinch gap is smaller than the 'norm' (making for a stronger interface). Maybe you had a bad stem? Maybe an undersized/crushed bar?
I certainly dont think ANY mfg is unfalable. I welcome and fully think that this is a proper forum to voice opinion and experience with bike products. BUT....99% of the time I read about someone complaining about how crappy some part is (here or at other forums), it is due to incorrect usage, lack of maintainance, or general misunderstanding of the product.
A quick call to the mfg, or a well worded question about the problem on a forum like this, will usually result in several very helpful answers (among a whole bunch of useless crap).
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davep,
i used the ALI stem for 2 years.. worked great, it did screak, but after removing and clearnig it didn;t creak at all...
i also mounted about 4 different bars... FUNN, DEITY PROTAPERS and some other ones and it fit well....
i thought and still think it's a solid stem..... i'm def. considering picking it up again because after i seen the prices to some stems.. WOW.... some are def. steep...
i used the ALI stem for 2 years.. worked great, it did screak, but after removing and clearnig it didn;t creak at all...
i also mounted about 4 different bars... FUNN, DEITY PROTAPERS and some other ones and it fit well....
i thought and still think it's a solid stem..... i'm def. considering picking it up again because after i seen the prices to some stems.. WOW.... some are def. steep...
it's really scary that people are so willing to sacrifice strength and durability on something as critical as a stem over ones safety.....when stuff on the front end breaks (stems, bars, forks) you generally don't win those battles....why put yourself at risk to save a few ounces?? seriously, not even close to being worth the risk.
I would absolutely agree that its not worth the risk. You look at Race Face, the standard Atlas Direct Mount looks good, not incredibly light. but then they went and made an SL version which has some weight savings and uses Ti bolts. Ti bolts in a stem is one sacrifice I would not make.
I do wish someone made a 7075-t6 direct mount that was zero rise. Sounds like the new Ali that they proto'd would have been just that but the price point would have been higher. I would have spent the $'s on it Im sure.
I do wish someone made a 7075-t6 direct mount that was zero rise. Sounds like the new Ali that they proto'd would have been just that but the price point would have been higher. I would have spent the $'s on it Im sure.
i don't think ti bolts are usually an issue, its more HOLLOW ti bolts that become dangerous...
I too like the idea of a lower bar....and thankfully there are several products out there (finally) to allow this.
The way I look at it though, either a stem or bars are about the same $$...so the $$ to bar height is about the same.
BUT...
Bars see a lot more abuse/stress/flex/etc (for many reasons) than a stem. On my big bike I replace my bars every year, or after any damage. A quality stem will last years.
SO...
If you wanted to lower your bars, and you needed to replace either a stem or bars to do it...it makes MUCH more sense to me, to replace your bars (something that has a shorter life, and is more likely to need replacing whether it is visable or not).
There are many issues with Ti hardware. Galvanic corosion, tensile strength, notch sensitivity, surface finish, etc, etc....not to mention the actual alloy used. It is not hard to find junk Ti hardware out there.... nor to install it incorrectly
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Ti bolts are an alloy, they can come in good or bad mixes/strengths/quality, they can be stronger than steel stem bolts that can also be made to different levels of quality.
Ti and carbon bashing and spreading of mistruths on forums is bad form, do some research, and bring some facts to the debate when bashing on anything, be it a product or material. Sorry for the derail, back on track.
I agree with this to an extent also, having not seen many failed stems. I have a friend who somehow manages to twist stems
WTF, and has twisted one of the lighter direct mounts in a season of racing. He's doing the wise thing for him, and selling the stem with his ride, and get a new one on his next seasons sled, but if he can't hurt one in a year, I sure as hell won't hurt one in five, and I'd say this goes for most people. If you're a big tower of man meat, or a super hard fast rider that thrashes gear, then any component that suffers high stress should be replaced anually, especially if they're aluminum.Sandwich, why didn't you just file a slither of ally of the ends where the stem was touching so you could do it up tight enough?
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that's a pretty dick move, and dangerous....
I said its a sacrifice I would not make, Im not 'bashing' ti bolts.
ok, first off, how many times do you really take off your handlebars from the bike? And second, just about every component hung on most handlebars can be easily removed if need be; split brake levers, lock on grips, not shifter generally, but everything else...
2. The Ali may have been one of the first boxxer stems, but there were plenty of DM stems before it, like the MRD factory stem, various small brand manufacturers (avy, white bros, etc.).
4. I'm not dissing the construction quality of the stem, it appeared super strong and looked well built, and I never had any fears that it would fall off my bike. I loved the super bolts, and they came prepped, and the whole thing looked like you could throw it through a window and it would come out without a scratch. I still hated the knee knocker backside of the stem, and the multi (4 piece) design.
17. I don't think I had a bad stem, except for the QC issue on the face plate. My bar was slightly undersized where the e13 mounts, since it's so wide, and it led to a "rattle" where my super wide bars would apply enough torque to hear a creak. The beer-SHIMZ fixed it, temporarily, but I didn't like the idea of using cans of beer to fix my bike...just so not "pro".
3.1415... I did contact e13, and they were plenty helpful about what my options were, but I wasn't satisfied with those options, which were to file the stem or get different bars, which brings me here:
Primarily because I didn't want to ruin a nice stem that I might be able to sell and pick up a different product that matched my needs. This was exactly the problem, but rather than reducing resale value immensely on something that somebody else could use with a better/higher quality set of bars, I sold it and picked up a sunline, which I've been very satisfied with so far.
Other than from a crash, I saw my first snapped direct mount stem at the Moscow Arms Race this year - don't wanna say who made it was until someone backs me up with pictures...but it's been mentioned in this thread as being reallll low.
I'm 250lbs, ride pretty aggressively and run a Chromag. Their logo is a big bear (like me!) and the stem is twice the size of anyone else's - I feel safe.
I don't think having a direct mount stem twist in a crash is a bad thing - if stems cost what they should (like $50) it would be a nice breaking point instead of destroying your top crown or fork lowers.
That said, a stem should NEVER snap - EVER. I don't think anyone should take chances with cockpit components. I've had a headtube snap and it was terrible, and I think a stem would be much worse - even worse than a handlebar! Twisting is ok, but a stem should be able to handle any amount of vertical force.
I'm 250lbs, ride pretty aggressively and run a Chromag. Their logo is a big bear (like me!) and the stem is twice the size of anyone else's - I feel safe.
I don't think having a direct mount stem twist in a crash is a bad thing - if stems cost what they should (like $50) it would be a nice breaking point instead of destroying your top crown or fork lowers.
That said, a stem should NEVER snap - EVER. I don't think anyone should take chances with cockpit components. I've had a headtube snap and it was terrible, and I think a stem would be much worse - even worse than a handlebar! Twisting is ok, but a stem should be able to handle any amount of vertical force.
Apparently missing a bolt or something. I wonder if my forks would fail if I took 1/4 of the bolts out of the crowns, or axle.
Pics of failed stems please that aren't from poor set up, or maintenence(bolt tension), and ideally tell us if they're crash related failures, or have been in big crashes in the past. And how old they are.
I like it. Clean lines, all machined, WIDE, 3pc, reach adjustment.the new answer stem will be out for 2010. looks pretty promising, its wide unlike most stems. it will help a ton with these long bars now a days thats for sure. most stems are to narrow for 30-32 inch bars and have flex.
http://www.answerproducts.com/?page_id=36 More details here.
Like it I can;t see it in plain black and its not yet available?
Guy's Ive just picked up a 2010 Boxxer team, what or has anyone had any experience wit the std boxxer integrated stem from Sram Truvativ as Peaty and the SC team use, I'm not after bling look at me stem just strong stiff and reliable.
This answer looks good but I need one now
it looks like the bolt snapped in the fork crown....maybe from over tightening
These point one-twenty6 stems are like walking on thin ice. 30grams of alloy make a difference.
This aint Trour de France, it is downhill, and skills are way more important than a 1/2 pound lighter bike. U never know when you are going to overshoot a 25foot drop
This aint Trour de France, it is downhill, and skills are way more important than a 1/2 pound lighter bike. U never know when you are going to overshoot a 25foot drop
hot stuff 0° front screw ti hardware direct mount screw steel
Lightweight 155g (WO – 180g with bolts)
http://www.persistcomponents.com/
http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?pid=5523545&id=114243210507&fbid=114808605507
Lightweight 155g (WO – 180g with bolts)
http://www.persistcomponents.com/
http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?pid=5523545&id=114243210507&fbid=114808605507
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These dropped DM stems have me kinda scratching my dome. I'm not an engineer, but it just seems like there isn't much holding your throat from smoking your top crown on a Straitline or Canfield stem, whereas with a Raceface or Persist stem there's some actual material to take the load.
Put me down on the list of people who don't get the approach to saving weight in the stem. Some of these things scare the crap out of me. I've done gobs of research lately, and for my needs, I'll be going with a Chromag Box - and a Thomson X4 in case the DM is too low. You won't see a featherweight stem on my bikes, but you wont see a broken one either.
I have to admit that the 26 is beautiful, but still it sketches me out a bit.
I have to admit that the 26 is beautiful, but still it sketches me out a bit.
My brother and a friend both broke a DM stem each this last summer. I realized how fragile those things are. One was light and the other was not so light and has a good rep for being a solid one. Makes you think...
If the Twenty6, canfield, Point1 etc is considered lightweight how about this one to raise the bar further:
77designz - 103g inc bolts using the same bolt to secure the stem to the crown and to clamp the handleber.
That stem looks scary as hell!!
Anyone out there with a Straitline DM? Are they holding up?
the new answer stem will be out for 2010. looks pretty promising, its wide unlike most stems. it will help a ton with these long bars now a days thats for sure. most stems are to narrow for 30-32 inch bars and have flex.
should be getting mine this week! along with my ace's and ADD's!!!
Which stem are you talking about?