I have never heard of a crash, much less a death, from cracks that started at those slits. Even if the crack progessed all the way around, there's still a steel bolt holding the top and bottom halves together.

I think it's a tempest in a teapot.

You want death stems?






Sorry about the focus on the last one; it's a Rivendell-Nitto lugged steel, handlebar clamp end just fell off.

Ah, this pic shows it better:



Stop worrying about the expander slits and start worrying about every single other place on a stem!

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