View Poll Results: What's your favorite or ideal bar/stem material combo?
aluminum stem, steel bars
5
11.63%
aluminum stem, aluminum bars
19
44.19%
steel stem, steel bars
7
16.28%
steel stem, aluminum bars
12
27.91%
Voters: 43. You may not vote on this poll
bar and stem material choice
#1
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bar and stem material choice
pick your ideal or favorite and discuss which has the best stiffness to weight, the best bang for the buck, and/or the best aesthetic.
#2
blacksheep the blemish
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I would choose for my stem a machined one piece, no weld stem like a thompson and for a bar... well I think I might have to go boring old heat treated aluminum. Something strong like a nitto though. I want my grill intact, I like strength.
#3
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cinelli 67 pistas and 2a stem mmm hmmmm mmm hmm
#7
or tarckeemoon, depending
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I've never been into the no bar tape track drop thing. All 4 of my bikes currently have steel Salsa stems and aluminum bars.
#8
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Originally Posted by onetwentyeight
well if aesthetics are the only concern...
#9
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Originally Posted by sers
i'm generally a fan of the cinelli stem aesthetic. i recently got (what i consider to be a great deal on) a cinelli stem. as far as i can tell, it's a 1/a, but with a 26.0 mm clamp. the new cinelli logo is stamped on the top, and i think the finish is gorgeous. it was listed as used, but i couldn't find any evidence that it was mounted or that bars were installed in it. i think i paid like $20 shipped...
You may have this confused. The older cinelli standard if 26.4mm, You can get a shim or just make one out of a pbr can.
I beleive they only recently changed it to 25.4mm and 26mm, late 90s.
#11
Quadricepius Exquisitus
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i really like carbon bars, but they are so un-track. ally nittos for the track bike, carbon for the rest. a stem is just a stem, some are prettier than others.
#13
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alloy both...and *gasp* threadless!!!! it's just better. especially if it's a stiffness to weight argument. i rock an oversize bontrager race stem to the deda pista bars. flex less than my friends njs stuff. (alloy stem steel bars)
#14
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Last night I had a dream that my bars started breaking apart. Like, I could just twist the metal and parts of it would pop off, like clay.
#15
Biggity-bam
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xthugmurderx - are you using elementi (alum) or velocita (steel), because I ran elementi's for a while and they were a flex-fest compared to my nittos. I bet it's due to the stem.
#16
shadybikes
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Originally Posted by onetwentyeight
well if aesthetics are the only concern...
how is surface rust cool?
#17
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Originally Posted by Learn_not2burn
xthugmurderx - are you using elementi (alum) or velocita (steel), because I ran elementi's for a while and they were a flex-fest compared to my nittos. I bet it's due to the stem.
and the steel drops are definitely not going to flex much if at all, and if paired with a steel stem (like i did on my spagetti bender build) it's not going anywhere, but at a cost. they're heavy as balls. i don't need that.
-jason
#18
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The elementi's are somewhat flexy, I think it was more due to my stem though ( cheap Felt). I completely agree with you on the weight thing though. I traded someone my dedas for the nittos. First time I felt them I almost dropped them it surprised me so much.
#20
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Originally Posted by onetwentyeight
thats not rust, thats blood from my victims.
#21
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Originally Posted by GirlAnachronism
Last night I had a dream that my bars started breaking apart. Like, I could just twist the metal and parts of it would pop off, like clay.
I probably weight alot more than you but I have bent several pairs of cheap bars and broken others.
Talk about some scary happenings you are never prepared for it when it happens.
#24
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i personally think that stem looks dope as hell. i'd rock it in a heartbeat. do you know who distributes them?
-jason
-jason
#25
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Originally Posted by OrgFarmCY