Originally Posted by Pantah

Not to be rude but I did cover that, pretty extensively too. As soon as I came to a stop and pulled the handlebars and stem up and out of the frame on the side of the road, I knew what the point of failure was. I know it's a long post but part of why it's long is going over why that was a problem and how I got into this situation.

Resonate frequency of steel vs. aluminum is something I can confidently say wasn't a factor.

I'm riding it equally hard as the previous owner. He put a LOT of miles on it doing some of the San Francisco Bay Area's most famous routes and climbs, such as Mount Diablo, on a regular basis. He was also an inch or so taller than me and a tad heavier. He was fast and strong. The kind of use it's getting isn't really any different.

I have those tools but I was doing it by hand as I was trying to keep a clean line on my freshly painted stem, which I have found to be easier by hand. However, to get it ground down the rest of the way, I'm going to use power tools. Far as keeping a clean line on the paint, I'll figure something out.