OneLessFixie

I got my new bike and had my follow-up appointment with my fitter. She recommended an 80mm stem for the time being but suggested I keep the 90mm one I picked up as I will probably graduate to it shortly. Anxious to ride, I figured I'd call around and pick one up locally. I mean, how hard can it be to find a bloody stem, right?

LBS 1:

Me: "Do you have an 80mm ±6 degree stem for a 31.8mm handlebar?"
LBS guy: "That's an awfully short (snicker) stem ... "
Me: (click)

LBS 2:

Me: "I'm looking for a stem."
LBS guy: "Oh yes, sir, that won't be a problem at all. We specialise in fitting and have every size in stock! Do you need a fitting too?"
Me: "Do you have an 80mm ±6 degree stem for a 31.8mm handlebar?"
LBS guy: "80mm?!?"
Me: "Yes, 80mm."
LBS guy: "I'm sorry, sir, we don't stock stems that short."
Me: "I thought you specialised in fittings and had every size in stock. 80mm isn't that short, right?"
LBS guy: "Uhh ... "

LBS 3:

Me: "Do you have an 80mm ±6 degree stem for a 31.8mm handlebar?"
LBS guy: "No, but we can get it for you. It would take 7-10 business days and you'd have to pay for shipping."
Me: "Get it for me? I can get it for myself in two days without paying for shipping. It's called Amazon.com, you've heard of them, right?"
LBS guy: (crickets)

I ultimately called a half-dozen shops, many of which claimed to "specialise" in fittings. None of them had an 80mm stem. Zero. The closest I was able to get was one shop that wanted to charge me $60 for a used 75mm (huh?) GT stem. You're kidding, right?

Seriously, I've yet to have a positive experience at a Seattle LBS. They either don't have what I need or want to charge me this year's prices for last year's model and tell me what a great deal I'm getting. And then they cry pauper and whine about how hard it is to stay in business while "only" charging a 150% markup on bikes and gawd-only-knows how much on everything else.

chasm54

An 80mm stem is quite extreme, I'd be tempted to buy a smaller frame than go with such a short stem.

And because it's unusual, were I a bike shop owner I probably wouldn't carry it as stock.

OneLessFixie

60mm is extreme. 80mm is well within two sigma of the mean, or well within the range of what any shop that "specialises in fittings" should keep on hand.

Again, we're talking here about shops that claim to be fitting specialists. Riiight.

spectastic

what's wrong with just buying something a little longer and inexpensive, and putting a hack saw to it?

stevebiker

That's not the answer he's looking for. He wants you to agree and join in slamming those no-good Seattle area LBSers. Tell him how they're all a bunch of fat weenies who've probably never even ridden a bike before and would fall off if they tried. Their coffee sucks and they're all lazy bums. A bunch of contemptible, know-nothing slobs.

Death to the bastards! Drive them into the sea. Slam 'em!

spectastic

wait, somehow I was under the impression it of 8 inches. 8 cm?? my dick is bigger than that.

njkayaker

Do you even know what a stem is?

No, you don't.

JerrySTL

The difference between 80 mm and 90 mm is about the radius of a US 5¢ coin (AKA Nickel). Half of a nickel ain't much at all. Just use the 90 mm stem and save a lot of nickels.

spectastic

oops, not a saddle stem... it's been a long tired morning, especially with this nj prick stalking me on the Internet.

"no you don't"

no I don't what?

Yo Spiff

Unusual? I have an 80mm stems on most of my bikes. The ones that don't have 80mm stems are even shorter. Perhaps it is not as common as the long ones, but it shouldn't be hard to find. I may ask some of my local shops and see if that lack of 80mm holds true for them.

I can tell a difference in 1 cm of reach. It doesn't make the bike unrideable of course, but when you are trying to get your bike dialed in just perfect, it does make a noticeable difference.

dramiscram

I had the same problem so I ended up ordering on ebay, should get it in 10-15 days.

njkayaker

You don't know what a stem is.

A "saddle stem"? Do you mean a seat post?

I-Like-To-Bike

Don't feel bad, you are not alone, that particular sniper has a list of posters he stalks. I am also "honored" with his attentions

MetalPedaler

So you're looking for a very specific, rather unusual size item, and you hang up on the first guy, just for making an appropriate comment? You then proceed to dismiss the people at every subsequent shop you called, simply because they did not have this unusual item......

How many reading this think that there are some bike-shop employees out there making posts on forums, entitled "What's Wrong With People*******eattle Customer Rant!"?

njkayaker

That coming from you is pretty funny! "Sniping" is your middle name!

If this internet stuff upsets you so, you should give it up.

Bizarre.

Mr. Beanz

Well I see 2 sides to the story here

Side 1) There is a reason many of us shop for parts online. We can order them ourselves, freee shipping at times, get better prices AND...get the parts we want.

Side 2) You went on line to save money. Why would you expect a business to stock parts that will sit on the shelf for a long period of time? Low turn over parts often don't bring money to the business. Everybody is tryng to save a buck nowadays, you did by going on line for your bike.

I-Like-To-Bike

There is a difference between addressing errors of, or disagreements with specific posts no matter who makes them, as I often do, and your practice of sniping at specific posters no matter where or what is posted.

Spoonrobot 

I don't think you can label a part "unusual" if both Performance and REI stock that size part.

spectastic

I retract every offensive statement that I've made. We're better than this. Sometimes, that teenager troll mindset sets in, but this is ridiculous...

Buzzatronic

Well it could be worse, you could have a stock 115mm stem that is way too long but it's on an NVO adjustable headset and the LBS that you *bought the bike from* can't get you the 90mm stem that NVO claims to sell, but only to bike shops and manufacturers. Jamis and NVO all ignore my emails about where to get a replacement. I'm going to have to rip out the whole thing and spend another $100+ on this.

This is in Seattle too.

Mobile 155

There is a reason we develop a Bicycle parts box.

GamblerGORD53

Well, I have to agree with the OP. I have seen all sizes around down to 40mm even. You would think that 80mm would be the first or second alternative if 100 is too long. It is obviously impossible for them to stock even 1 % of what's available, but that attitude was ignorant. To say that stems do anything but tweak fit and shorten the TT, for non-racers, is dumb. 50mm used to be normal. My custom has zero stem.

For my build, the only parts they had on hand were the TIRES and tubes. They were the reps for my lock, crank and rims.
Peter White's place is wonderful and the ONLY supplier of WH13 spokes.

njkayaker

Crimany, does your ego even fit in the room?

If you write posts it's "addressing the errors of". But if other people are "addressing the errors of", it's "sniping".

You don't like your "errors addressed" so you resort to ad hominems! If you can't handle it, you shouldn't post.

koolerb

To be fair, I don't think you can compare the average LBS to REI or Performance. Local LBS owners has to be really careful about what and how much stock if they want to remain bike shop owners. What I don't get is the delivery time from the distributors. You'd think 3 or 4 days tops to receive an order for an in stock part.

Dunbar

I had one of those on my Jamis Coda. It was an even dumber idea than the isozone bars on my Trek FX.