Originally Posted by
scarlson
Right, right! OK, I'm not crazy. I postulated that earlier, but you probably missed it in the above doomscroll.
...
Here's mine. Still riding it. And before you ask, yes it looks like that even after I remove the nut. And yes, that's a crummy decaleur poorly brazed on. Bit of a rush job so I'd have a bike to take on my work trip to Michigan. The crack is because of the Arnold Industries lightweight aftermarket nut, which appears to have been the wrong size.
I did miss your posting, even as I had too-quickly scanned the thread for any mention of the reflector bracket.
Perhaps your decaleur's loading also may have contributed to your stem's clamp ear splitting? It somehow never occurred to me that the hole bore was actually tapered.
My first experience with one of these tapered nuts was while tightening a stem, and tightening it some more, wondering why the nut didn't fully seat. I vaguely recall having then removed the nut forcefully and grinding it to a smaller size. The reflector bracket being the issue did not occur to me at that time because I had bought the stem used, without the bracket..
Your cracked stem is now seeing very different force distribution than it was designed around and tested for.
With that crack, I would definitely not ride on it.