it was recommended to me by an official at the velodrome that I get a steel stem for my bike. a quick internet browse and visit to my LBS turned up little other than a Nitto number for around $140. anybody know of any other perhaps more affordable options?
zuvembi
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:06 pm
Joined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 942Location: Little Addis Ababa
A steel stem? Why?
No really, other than retro-grouchery, I can't think of much reason for that.
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pyörä
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:11 pm
Joined: 09 Jan 2006Posts: 69Location: bicycle
Phil (the official) thought that steel bars with an alloy stem wasn't safe long-term. maybe he was overestimating my upper-body strength rather significantly, but - as he has been around velodromes rather longer than I've been alive - I tend to not dismiss what he says too quickly.
Stanglor
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:16 pm
Joined: 28 Jan 2006Posts: 555Location: Wallingford
Well...there is an argument to be made for steel stems vs. aluminum ones that has some technical merit to it (unlike steel aluminum doesn't have an endurance limit, cycle it enough and it will fail), but I tend to agree that aluminum would do you fine.
If you really want to get a steel one, Salsa makes a cromoly steel stems in 1" quill, and 1 1/8" threadless varieties.
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zuvembi
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:47 pm
Joined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 942Location: Little Addis Ababa
Even Chalo uses aluminum stems IIRC. He puts far more force through them than you or I ever will.
Granted, there are definitely aluminum stems that are not fit for purpose, but you can build cheese parts out of any material. Simply saying "steel strong, aluminum weak" is questionable.
Edit: Salsa does make excellent strong parts. They'd certainly be a good choice.
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Aaron
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:42 pm
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 4645
pyörä wrote:
Phil (the official) thought that steel bars with an alloy stem wasn't safe long-term. maybe he was overestimating my upper-body strength rather significantly, but - as he has been around velodromes rather longer than I've been alive - I tend to not dismiss what he says too quickly.
Phil is a nice guy and all, but come-on man, that dude is stuck in the 80s and even the 1970s. He was out there (although much, much skinner, no beer belly) when I was racing Marymoor. Late 70s and early 80s equiptment was much weaker than todays stuff.
A good quality alloy stem will be just fine. You cannot go wrong with Nitto. In fact, I have never seen a defective Nitto part!
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