Originally Posted by
illdrag0n
Got home after a ride today and my paranoia got the best of me. Chucked the wheel between the legs and gave the handlebars a twist. At first there was some flex, but under torque surely the stem started twisting on the headset......
You don't have a problem at all, and any attempt to "fix" it is misguided at best.
The stem clamp to the round steerer tube attaced to your fork. It has to be tight enough to transmit steering inputs without twisting. Steering forces are actually very low, and far (very far) less than the twist you subjected the stem to. You were able to cause flex and twist in the fork before it finally let go, so what is the issue.
FYI old timers and race mechanics tend to keep stems much
looser than most people. We have a concept called "race tight" which means tight enough to do the job, yet loose enough to slip in a crash, hopefully mitigating some force an saving part from bending or braking.