Custom Stem
05-04-13, 02:44 AM
#2
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Not a fan of the bar clamp. I've got a Ritchey Classic stem on my Marcelo. It's really clean. Is it possible to use a modern 4-bolt bar clamp?
05-04-13, 04:51 PM
#3
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That is certainly one of the better looking a-heads. No reason why a modern 4-bolt clamp couldn't be used but again, I was trying to achieve a different look. Work or rather design in progress . . .
01-17-14, 06:57 AM
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You are an outliar of course with your adherence to yester-tech. Yes, I do believe the old stuff was more elegant but the new stuff is so much better functionally and weight wise. To me your allegiance to a lost aesthetic where you morph old quill with new bar diameter is ill founded.. I can see buying or building a classic bicycle...but your convergence of old quill with OS handlebar...and a bull horn at that, seems like a waste.
This is my opinion only of course.
Have fun.
This is my opinion only of course.
Have fun.
01-17-14, 07:20 AM
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I agree with C4L. Very nice photography though! 
01-17-14, 08:37 AM
#9
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Have always ridden bull horns, since '75. A personal choice if I am allowed one. Never saw the need for drops and 31.8 seems a more natural, comfortable diameter. Did I inadvertently break some sort of cycle code that you wrote and manage? And the look of a bike or anything else for that matter is important. A lost aesthetic? Might be a nice title for a novel or piece of non-fiction. What is your line of work by the way? Might explain a lot . . .
01-17-14, 08:52 AM
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Have always ridden bull horns, since '75. A personal choice if I am allowed one. Never saw the need for drops and 31.8 seems a more natural, comfortable diameter. Did I inadvertently break some sort of cycle code that you wrote and manage? And the look of a bike or anything else for that matter is important. A lost aesthetic? Might be a nice title for a novel or piece of non-fiction. What is your line of work by the way? Might explain a lot . . .
He did say it was only his opinion and told you to have fun.
01-17-14, 08:58 AM
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Robert
01-17-14, 09:11 AM
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Seems like the worst of both worlds to me. Not a clean vintage look, and not as light and stiff as a modern stem.
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01-17-14, 09:16 AM
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01-17-14, 09:20 AM
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+ also C4L he summed it up well!
01-17-14, 01:43 PM
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Have always ridden bull horns, since '75. A personal choice if I am allowed one. Never saw the need for drops and 31.8 seems a more natural, comfortable diameter. Did I inadvertently break some sort of cycle code that you wrote and manage? And the look of a bike or anything else for that matter is important. A lost aesthetic? Might be a nice title for a novel or piece of non-fiction. What is your line of work by the way? Might explain a lot . . .
01-17-14, 01:50 PM
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Looks like a junk stem off a 70s department store bike. If you want a thicker grip, put a layer of cloth tape on the bars before your finishing tape. You aren't going to notice a difference in stiffness.
01-17-14, 02:36 PM
#17
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IMHO, should be lugged.
Kudos for going 1" though. I went 1" threaded with my Roadeo because I like the look, like the ability to change height easily, and have a bunch of stems already.
Is the guy going to make the clamp silver or keep it black? I do not like the black color on the clamp. Other than that, I think if those dimensions fit your build you will have a good stem for the bike.
Kudos for going 1" though. I went 1" threaded with my Roadeo because I like the look, like the ability to change height easily, and have a bunch of stems already.
Is the guy going to make the clamp silver or keep it black? I do not like the black color on the clamp. Other than that, I think if those dimensions fit your build you will have a good stem for the bike.
01-18-14, 09:59 AM
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You are an outliar of course with your adherence to yester-tech. Yes, I do believe the old stuff was more elegant but the new stuff is so much better functionally and weight wise. To me your allegiance to a lost aesthetic where you morph old quill with new bar diameter is ill founded.. I can see buying or building a classic bicycle...but your convergence of old quill with OS handlebar...and a bull horn at that, seems like a waste.
This is my opinion only of course.
Have fun.
This is my opinion only of course.
Have fun.
You either chase all the kids off the lawn, or you let them all trample it. Oh, and my 66/1A bar and stem combo just threw up...
01-18-14, 11:20 AM
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01-18-14, 12:25 PM
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I would agree with my fellow Merlin rider. This retro stem as pictured looks more like a plumbing clamp than do most any aheadset stems. Both prefer the improvements of headset stem tightening with the threadless modern design but dislike the lack of vertical adjustment, left to spacers or cutting the steering tube.
01-19-14, 05:24 AM
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Sorry you didn't care for the replies, but That's Life, as Blue Eyes belted out. Pics did manage to bring back ancient times. Good luck.
01-19-14, 05:55 AM
#23
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Wow, this Forum is a tough place, too much for my delicate nature. These are prototypes, not perfection, a study. If you don’t like it, fine but no need to try to extrapolate to who and what I am. Ask what my design criteria were and fabrication limits instead making assumptions. And obtuse criticism followed by ‘have fun’ is sarcasm, nothing else.
Hopefully you will all have decades of riding ahead of you and no doubt some will be waxing back on how great A-heads, sloping top tubes and disc brakes are while the industry has moved on. I don’t race so weight is not high on my list priorities. Prefer Benotto tape to padded, old style pursuit to drops due to L2-L5 spinal fusion. So I am caught in the middle, trying to find something that suits my personal preferences and riding style and did not find anything on the market. Made a stab at it.
Wanted 1” quill stem and OS bar, a combination that to my warped thinking is perfectly allowable, even reasonable, and was trying to achieve something akin to Nitto’s Crystem which is forged. But forging one of’s is prohibitively expensive so compromised on method and you see the results. Perhaps I should have tried 3D printing but cutting the forge dies would still be real expensive. First stem was all steel except for the alloy clamp which the fabricator unilaterally anodized black (hence not repeated second time around). Quite heavy as you can imagine and finish bit rough so tried a second one which is all alloy and lighter as result.
Not as successful a stem as I had hoped but glad I made the effort. Not asking you to buy one, just sharing an experience and kinda sorry I did.
Hopefully you will all have decades of riding ahead of you and no doubt some will be waxing back on how great A-heads, sloping top tubes and disc brakes are while the industry has moved on. I don’t race so weight is not high on my list priorities. Prefer Benotto tape to padded, old style pursuit to drops due to L2-L5 spinal fusion. So I am caught in the middle, trying to find something that suits my personal preferences and riding style and did not find anything on the market. Made a stab at it.
Wanted 1” quill stem and OS bar, a combination that to my warped thinking is perfectly allowable, even reasonable, and was trying to achieve something akin to Nitto’s Crystem which is forged. But forging one of’s is prohibitively expensive so compromised on method and you see the results. Perhaps I should have tried 3D printing but cutting the forge dies would still be real expensive. First stem was all steel except for the alloy clamp which the fabricator unilaterally anodized black (hence not repeated second time around). Quite heavy as you can imagine and finish bit rough so tried a second one which is all alloy and lighter as result.
Not as successful a stem as I had hoped but glad I made the effort. Not asking you to buy one, just sharing an experience and kinda sorry I did.
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05-04-12 12:46 PM
