Road Cycling - Tried Weyless

I wanted to try a much different length stem on one of my road bikes and went online to Supergo. They had a lot on sale and saw a Weyless R7OS that looked nice, I wanted the carbon coated ones for more money but they didn't have the right size in stock. This was $9.98 ! Thought I'd try it out and see what that length was like, then buy a "good" one later. No way, this thing is a keeper, I can't believe how nice it is; for not much more than the LBS charges me for a freekin tube! The one I took off cost around 80 bucks, but "it's so stiff", "high preformance", "a blend of strength and style" "even stress distribution" and blah blah blah. Give me a break, what a rip off. It's just a stem. Guess you don't always get what you pay for, especially so I've noticed in cycling industry. Anyone know who Weyless is?

Good to hear that, I wanted to order one lured by the awesome, dirt cheap prices but didn't have the size I needed, I guess they really "fly out the door".
Thanks for the feedback, wonder who makes them too... perhaps somebody can illustrate.
Corsaire

Wow! What a deal. I'm going to try it.

I'm with you. I bought the Performance Forte Pro stem for $30 just to try a different length. Figured I'd buy a "real" one later. Well, this sucker rocks - it's solid and stiff and only weighs 135 grams - making it comparable or better than a lot of ones costing 3 times as much.

Sometimes, it's worth it to go with the house brand.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=16194&subcategory_ID=5235

55/Rad

I'm with you. I bought the Performance Forte Pro stem for $30 just to try a different length. Figured I'd buy a "real" one later. Well, this sucker rocks - it's solid and stiff and only weighs 135 grams - making it comparable or better than a lot of ones costing 3 times as much.

Sometimes, it's worth it to go with the house brand.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=16194&subcategory_ID=5235

55/Rad

Your right on about Forte. Got the Forte Pro SLX saddle this spring; it's my favorite, and I have a few sitting in a box that cost twice the price. Hollow ti rails, cut out, light, looks sharp and fits just right.

I did EXACTLY the same with the Pro SLX. This saddle far exceded my expectations and now I have 2, soon to be 3.

55/Rad

Anyone know who Weyless is?
Weyless = SuperGo
Scattante = SuperGo

I visited their brand new shop here tonight and saw that carbon + ultegra + weyless everything else = $1300 bike :eek: :D Wow, that's an insane bargain. So I asked, those are their brands.

I really want to get their R-19 stem but it's a 4-bolt clamp and thus verboten with my Easton EC90 bar.

I ordered the Weyless R7OS tonight! I've been wanting to try something shorter but didn't want to fork out the cash. Thanks for starting this thread!

Weyless = SuperGo
Scattante = SuperGo

I visited their brand new shop here tonight and saw that carbon + ultegra + weyless everything else = $1300 bike :eek: :D Wow, that's an insane bargain. So I asked, those are their brands.

Not exactly. Did a search tonight and found this. Not a bad article. :) http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/Weyless_files/Hub_ad.htm Another article from Bicycling Magazine said they are now a British firm, but back in the day when they were an American company they were makers of high quality hubs. Now they market through Supergo.

maybe SuperGo bought 'em? I don't really care, just passing on what the clerk said.

But, as a graphic designer, I'm flummoxed by that advertisement. The headline was obviously massaged by a typographer and yet, the body copy layout is ******* horrible.

This randomness brought to you by Opie... it's what's for migraines.

Not exactly. Did a search tonight and found this. Not a bad article. :) http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/Weyless_files/Hub_ad.htm Another article from Bicycling Magazine said they are now a British firm, but back in the day when they were an American company they were makers of high quality hubs. Now they market through Supergo.

Hmmmm ... that article looks old.

Oh and they manufacture (or used to manufacture) right in my home town ... cool!

-mark

I ordered the Weyless R7OS tonight! I've been wanting to try something shorter but didn't want to fork out the cash. Thanks for starting this thread!

yw Kerk, nice to hear it helped you. Enjoy

I saw a nice slightly used forte stem on ebay.

maybe SuperGo bought 'em? I don't really care, just passing on what the clerk said.

But, as a graphic designer, I'm flummoxed by that advertisement. The headline was obviously massaged by a typographer and yet, the body copy layout is ******* horrible.

This randomness brought to you by Opie... it's what's for migraines.
it was the 80s, when men were men and layout sucked. [along with everything else]

fsnl
sparky

it was the 80s, when men were men and layout sucked. [along with everything else]

As opposed to the 90s when Wired ushered in page layouts that looked like it got thrown up on by a vinyl colouring machine from a couch factory still stuck in the 1970s? :D

it was the 80s, when men were men and layout sucked. [along with everything else]

fsnl
sparky
Oh no you di'n't :D

The 80s saw the end of typography as an art, well, more like 90-92... when every secretary could publish the company newsletter and make ads. Oh sure, there are still artists out there, but try selling that to a client.

The orphan -- a single word at the end of a paragraph, top of the next column -- would've gotten me taken out back and beaten when I worked at a type shop as an apprentice. It's the first thing you learn. :D


khuon... lol :)

Oh no you di'n't :D

The 80s saw the end of typography as an art, well, more like 90-92... when every secretary could publish the company newsletter and make ads. Oh sure, there are still artists out there, but try selling that to a client.

The orphan -- a single word at the end of a paragraph, top of the next column -- would've gotten me taken out back and beaten when I worked at a type shop as an apprentice. It's the first thing you learn. :D


khuon... lol :)


yeah, the text in that ad looks horrible. i think a lot of it has to do with the GIANT EFFING INDENTS for every paragraph. cut that space in half and that would probably fix most of the problems right there. futzing around with the leading would probably fix the rest of it, along with playing around with the photo placement or adding more photos in there would too.

i used to use quark express a lot in high school for our paper, and to some extent in college. i think it'd be fun to do actual cut-n-paste layout. maybe i'll put together a zine someday, or get back into layout.

and uh, oh yeah....stems. great deals on really nice stems are super!

I ordered the Weyless R7OS tonight! I've been wanting to try something shorter but didn't want to fork out the cash. Thanks for starting this thread!

I haven't recieved my stem yet! Is SuperGo always this slow? Is there anyway to see if it has been shipped?

I haven't recieved my stem yet! Is SuperGo always this slow? Is there anyway to see if it has been shipped?

Welcome to the Performance family of delivery service. :) I wonder if they ran out. I have been meaning to visit the SuperGo store around here to see if they kept better stock of stuff than their Performance brothers but haven't had a chance. I did hear that their bike service dept. at the local store here is terrible though.

I've been saying for months on here, manufacturing most of this stuff is far from rocket science. The whole industry is based on Marketing.

I used to think the Diamond trade was the biggest scam of all, but I think the cycling industry is a close second, HAHA!

Weyless stems are just like almost all the other stems, Made in Taiwan from Machined Aluminum.....wow They may even come from the same factory as other $$ brands.

I've always found it funny that a piece of thin aluminum pipe with a clamp on the top (seatpost) is $80.00

How about a $130.00 carbon water bottle cage?

$80.00 PVC rain jackets

etc..

maybe SuperGo bought 'em? I don't really care, just passing on what the clerk said.

But, as a graphic designer, I'm flummoxed by that advertisement. The headline was obviously massaged by a typographer and yet, the body copy layout is ******* horrible.

This randomness brought to you by Opie... it's what's for migraines.


Same here Opie (GD also)

Oh no you di'n't :D

The 80s saw the end of typography as an art, well, more like 90-92... when every secretary could publish the company newsletter and make ads. Oh sure, there are still artists out there, but try selling that to a client.

The orphan -- a single word at the end of a paragraph, top of the next column -- would've gotten me taken out back and beaten when I worked at a type shop as an apprentice. It's the first thing you learn. :D


khuon... lol :)

call them widows here, and I think that Publisher is the downfall of all graphic design. Not to get off the subject, but you should see some of the crap these people send me to fix. BTW Opie, you guys using Indesign yet?
I hate Publisher and Frontpage!

I haven't recieved my stem yet! Is SuperGo always this slow? Is there anyway to see if it has been shipped?

I called Supergo Customer Support and they "said" that the stem was shipped on Sept. 8th. That was a week ago today so I should be getting it anyday now. I also pointed out to them that their website says you can track shipping by clicking on the "order status button that is at the top of every page", but guess what? That button/link does not exist on any page. doh! She basically said, "Oops, sorry about that. We're working on the website." What a joke.

Weyless = SuperGo
Scattante = SuperGo

I visited their brand new shop here tonight and saw that carbon + ultegra + weyless everything else = $1300 bike :eek: :D Wow, that's an insane bargain. So I asked, those are their brands.


If VR was asking what I think VR was asking, VR was looking for who manufacturers the stuff for Supergo to put that name on. I wonder that about most house branded stuff. They don't make it in the back of the shop, more than likely, though they put a brand name they own on it. Kind of like Douglas bicycles and Colorado Cyclist.

I got yesterday the Forte Road Stem by Performance: what a nice piece of work an SO light! at 126 grms.
Unfortunately I had to return it today because 100mm turned out to be too small, I'll get the 110mm.
The only pet peeve I have with Performance is that they won't tell you (not even calling them, c/s is always in limbo when is about where your order is) when it shipped, what method they used and give you a tracking number; Nashbar is much better at that.
Corsaire

I called Supergo Customer Support and they "said" that the stem was shipped on Sept. 8th. That was a week ago today so I should be getting it anyday now. I also pointed out to them that their website says you can track shipping by clicking on the "order status button that is at the top of every page", but guess what? That button/link does not exist on any page. doh! She basically said, "Oops, sorry about that. We're working on the website." What a joke.

I have to give Supergo some credit. I did receive my stem on the 16th and it looks great. I haven't ridden with it yet due to family stuff going on. I can't wait to get out! At least they DID deliver.

Weyless=style disaster
;)

Weyless=style disaster
;)

Maybe so, but I'm sure it is the least of my style disasters! :roflmao:

I'm using their 4 bolt R-19 clamp with a set of EC 90 bars, no issues during my year of use. Easton makes no restriction or mention of clamp type on their installation instructions:
[...]
Where did you get this information?

Easton warns specifically in the instructions for their EC90 Equipe bars. I've heard from several people that 4-bolt clamps are not recommended because of the potential for uneven torquing causing cracks. I think the reason Easton doesn't put any warnings on their EC90 installation instructions is simply because they were published before people were bringing up this particular concern. I guess that if you're very careful, use a torque wrench and don't crank down the load too much then it'll probably be fine.

I'm with you. I bought the Performance Forte Pro stem for $30 just to try a different length. Figured I'd buy a "real" one later. Well, this sucker rocks - it's solid and stiff and only weighs 135 grams - making it comparable or better than a lot of ones costing 3 times as much.

Sometimes, it's worth it to go with the house brand.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=16194&subcategory_ID=5235

55/Rad

I did the same. Now both my brother and I have the Forte Pro stem on our bikes.

I decided to play it safe (for other reasons than just the two vs four bolt issue) and got a new ITM Millennium Carbon stem from Texas Cyclesport (http://txcyclesport.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=ITM-MST-CB&Category_Code=handlebars). The cost including shipping came out to $93. Yes, it's thrice as expensive as the Weyless carbon one but I felt it was worth it. I am using it to replace my current ITM BigOpen which I feel is a little too long (it's 120mm and I need 110mm) for me. I wanted something with the same angle/rise and couldn't get a straight answer out of the Supergo goons about the angle on the Weyless R-19. I also think the ITM stem looks nicer. The stem just arrived today but the clamp stack height is a little shorter than that of my current stem (34mm vs 40mm) so I'll need to go out and get a 3mm or 5mm spacer.

I've tried twice to order the grossly cheap R-19 Carbon/Alloy Road stem and twice they did not have it in stock. Actually before I attempted the second time, I contacted customer service and asked if they could confirm that the item(and size) was in stock. Dude responded that it was. Well, it wasn't. The funny is that they don't even notify you that it's not coming. They just don't send it. They don't do a "woops" we goofed and can't send it to you kinda email. If you can actually get your paws on one, I hear its a great stem. Too bad they're the only source for it.

I remember when those Weyless hubs came out in the '70s accompanied by a slick (for bike stuff) ad campaign. The hubs were quite light and rather unusual in having sealed bearings, mirror polished aluminum and a funky quick release. If I remember properly, the company was going to release a line of US made high-performance components but it went out of business before getting anywhere. I'm almost certain that the Supergo Weyless components bear no relation.....

Sorry, to drag up such an old thread, but I just thought I would provide a little update on these Weyless stems. I was in the local Performance Bike yesterday, and I noticed they had a rack of closeout stuff. I was a bit surprised to see that most of it was Weyless, since I thought that stuff was only available through Supergo.

I bought the R-19 stem in a 90mm length. The finish is really nice, and the stem seems really solid, and it's pretty light. The piece of cardboard it comes attached to claimed 137 grams for 90mm length, but I didn't weigh it. The funny thing is that I decided to weigh the stem that was on my bike before (110mm huge, clunky adjustable stem, Performance Tirreno Razza 4.0 bike), and it weighs 350 grams. That's ridiculous! My bike is almost half a pound lighter than it was just because I changed the stem, and that wasn't even the point! Not that I can tell any difference, of course, but it makes me feel good.

Anyway, long story short, it looks great and works great and was really cheap at $25.

a lot of competitive at $25 for a stem...ITM and Ritchey in particular. The unsung stems I think are Ritchey. Deda gets a rap for stem clamp plate bolts that strip. To me, a lot of it is aesthetics. I have to like how the stem looks as most work OK. Deda stems are pretty artful looking. Ritchey stems are hard to beat for the money. Their clamp screw thread diameters are larger, their clamp plates are ribbed for better bar retention and have a little wider bar clamp than others.
George

I use a chaepy Nashbar stem on my TT bike and it works great , had it laying around and thought that I would upgrade at some point. But why? For a logo? No way ! BTW Profile design Zero stems can be found for cheap, they may not be so light but are very stiff and nearly bomb proof. I like the performance four bolt forte as well . Deda stems are ok but the one that came on my Bianchi was some what flexible.

with the bike i'm building now.. i'm using weyless CF fork ($36 - can't beat that with a stick) and go the Weyless R-19 Carbon/Alloy Road Stem for $10.. yup you heard it correctly.. $10, cuz there was some small paint chips on the alloy part.. so they sold it to me for $10. ;)

thus far.. the bike is coming along.. but they're stuff is good.. even got the weyless carbon spacers (i scratched off the silver imprinted Weyless logo so it's cleaner now.

I'm with you. I bought the Performance Forte Pro stem for $30 just to try a different length. Figured I'd buy a "real" one later. Well, this sucker rocks - it's solid and stiff and only weighs 135 grams - making it comparable or better than a lot of ones costing 3 times as much.

Sometimes, it's worth it to go with the house brand.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=16194&subcategory_ID=5235

55/Rad

Did the exact same thing. It's nicely made and its the right price. As you mentioned, its also lighter than its expensive couterparts.

I've always thought it suspicious that MTB Stems from one company sell for $25 while road stems from the same company sell for $75-125. What's the difference?

Speaking of all this house brand stuff. I now have two sets of Nashbar Ventoux pedals. They are sort of a Look knock-off design. The alloyones are 352g, and the magnesium about 300g. They can cost around $30-$50 respectively, and I gotta say, absolutely love these pedals. For an average bike, they are fantastic.

Even my wifes new bike with a Centaur group and carbon cranks, still weighs a smidgeon under 18lbs WITH the Ventoux pedals. And they are cheap. Plus, cleats are always available through Nashbar for only like $10 when on sale.

So far, I've got about 1000mi on my first set of Ventouxs ,and they hardly show any wear at all. Unlike my new $165 Look Keo carbon pedals that look like they are twenty years old now. And I have used them half as much.

These weyless stems sound pretty good. I'll have to try one out. These parts add up quick and stems seem to be ultra expensive.

These weyless stems sound pretty good. I'll have to try one out. These parts add up quick and stems seem to be ultra expensive.

they sure do. sometimes house brand stuff is very helpful when ur building ur bike on a budget. i just can't till i finish my build.. but first.. gotta get better soon from stomach flu..

This makes 2 things I'm going to be using to save money.

Tektro brakes and $10 Weyless stems.

Performance Forte pedals too. ;)

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=6104&subcategory_ID=5245#

53-11, nothing wrong with sporting weyless stems.. actually on some of their alu. stems.. u can strip off the logos... since i got the carbon/alu one.. i couldn't do that. but yea.. their stuff rocks! i have a set of wellgo pedals, same as the performance or weyless... and it's nice.

I don't really care about the logos, but when you are putting together a bike stuff like stems, seatposts, brake calipers can just kill you.

Are the performance stem the same thing? (same parent company)

I actually have nothing against Weyless parts but I am annoyed by the Supergos I've dealt with so far. They remind me of Performance (surprise surprise). It's like the same problem I always had at Best Buy. I see a good deal listed and go there only to find out they don't have any of it left, they don't know when they'll get some more and they never really had a whole bunch to begin with. If you can actually score the part then I'd say go for it. I really did like the R-19 stem but didn't get one for various reasons... the primary one which was availability. I'm quite happy with my ITM stem as I've been with the past ITM stems I've had but I wouldn't have hung my head in shame over sticking the R-19 on my bike either.

I know what you are saying. I need a 110mm stem, but they only have 120 and 130mm in stock http://www.supergo.com/profile.cfm?LPROD_ID=18263&lsubcat_id=7645&lcat_id=7605&referpage=

yeah that kinds sucks if you don't have a supergo nearby. when i got my 110mm... they only had 2 left in the whole store.

yeah that kinds sucks if you don't have a supergo nearby. when i got my 110mm... they only had 2 left in the whole store.

Thing is, there is a store nearby. And that's the size I was looking for too. You took my stem! :D I guess 110mm is a popular size. ;)