Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Nitto pearl, or jaguar?

Basically I'm looking for a comparison between the nitto pearl and jaguar stems. Is there an obvious winner? Are they equal but different? What are your opinions? Thanks!

get a jag.

pearl is less expensive... i dont know the difference besides the obvious, so thats why im getting a pearl.

Pearl is way cheaper, as is Technomic. Jaguar has less options for quill length and costs more, and comes in more severe angles. I have both, and like both. The Jaguar is like 4x as much yen as the Technomic here though....

the pearl is also, in my limited experience, harder to find in 25.4, if that's of interest to you. i ended up with a jaguar, and jesus if it's not a handsome devil.

The Pearl is simply a 73 degree angle road stem where the Jaguar is a drop-angle stem for track. Other than that, it's hard to tell them apart. If anything, the finish is a bit better on the Pearl. No NJS stamp on the Pearl of course, but that isn't relevant.

Jaguars only come in 25.4 mm clamp size. Pearls come in 25.4 and in 26.0, but I've heard that only the 26.0 is imported into the US. That makes the Nitto shim very useful since it's designed to let you put a 25.4 Nitto track bar into a 26.0 Pearl stem -- and it actually fits the width of the stem nicely.

Pearls are very nice stems. There's no reason not to consider one. They are not a lower grade of stem.

One thing: Pearls seem to run about a centimeter longer than their listed size. Be sure and actually measure it and don't just trust what the stamping on the stem says.

jaguar, its just so clean.

Pearl FTW. Ridiculous drop isn't that cool anymore.

I have laid my eyes on an NJS stamped Pearl.

also, yeah, the jag is stupid deep and i think that if you're going to get your bike to fit you, chances are high the pearl will do you better than the jag.

jaguars are sexy as hell, for what its worth. my hand position was more comfortable on the tops of my drops with the 100mm deep drop jag stem, but i've got a 120 pearl stem on right now, which puts me in a much better position in the drops.

now my jaguar stem just kinda sits on my girlfriend's coffee table. :(

goldenskeletronz, you should have seen my goofy-ass setup at summerslam last night... stem flipped up into the air with track bars... put me low enough without being too low to spin properly - it was good. opened up a gap on the first downhill and broke away with catfish and dan jersey's all the way around the first lap...

damn it! when the hell was the last time you and i raced together? who were you teamed up with? can we do some night lapz around a park or something soon? or some before-work-too-tired-to-think-proper laps? NYC'S LUNCHIEST LAPS?!?!?!

and yeah! when i had drops on the Iro i would flip the stem up.


oh! sorry. jaguars!
http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/mammal/jaguar/jaguar_01tk.jpg

njs

I like the Pearl over the Jaguar because the angle isn't as steep. I've seen Jags retail for as low as 80 with the Pearl for 55-60.

The 25.4 Pearl has the NJS stamp:
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6035/pearlrz0.jpg

Awesome! I'm going to go for the pearl, and by the way are those anodized nitto risers? If so, I'm jealous.


Now for a second question, has anyone tried a threadless to quill adapter such as this one (http://www.bti-usa.com/item.asp?item=AZ0202&searchtype=otherItems&itemsearch=&showSec=&filter=)? Any reason not to do it? I really love the look of quill stems, and this seems like a better option than dropping 60 on the bikeworks fork.

ex of adapter:
http://www.bti-usa.com/pictures/AZ/AZ0202.JPG

oh! sorry. jaguars!


troll

http://jeremychase.name/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/bob-box-ears.jpg

...i don't get it!

Now for a second question, has anyone tried a threadless to quill adapter such as this one (http://www.bti-usa.com/item.asp?item=AZ0202&searchtype=otherItems&itemsearch=&showSec=&filter=)? Any reason not to do it? I really love the look of quill stems, and this seems like a better option than dropping 60 on the bikeworks fork.

ex of adapter:
http://www.bti-usa.com/pictures/AZ/AZ0202.JPG
That adapter is for putting a threadless stem on a threaded fork... sounds like the opposite of what you want to do. I don't think there are any adapters out there for putting a quill stem in a threadless fork.

Just stick with threadless. If aesthetics mean that much to you, you'll buy the new fork, headset, and stem that you need.

i like my nitto dynamic...

http://www.bikemannetwork.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/product_images/SM/SM1410.jpg

i think it is clean looking, and it was cheap.

edit: like $34 @ my lbs cheap.

That adapter is for putting a threadless stem on a threaded fork... sounds like the opposite of what you want to do. I don't think there are any adapters out there for putting a quill stem in a threadless fork.

Just stick with threadless. If aesthetics mean that much to you, you'll buy the new fork, headset, and stem that you need.

DOH!