Originally Posted by
icepick_trotsky
This is normal to an extent, but check for cracks. Nitto stems are cold forged, pretty much the strongest aluminum parts money can buy, so I'm not surprised that you would find them noticeably stiffer. Amazon sells technomics really cheaply if you want to got that route.
Yeah, that was my problem was that even on Amazon they're quite expensive compared to the ubiquitous SR stems you can purchase for $8, and I also couldn't find them in the size I want, so I picked up the SR second hand for cheap.