Originally Posted by
DannoXYZ
That gouge took a lot of force to form. Would have to be something heavy dropped on it, or it was dropped.
Yeah, you guys are right and a simple slip of a hex key wouldn't have done that much damage. I wonder if the stem was like that before it was installed as an impact that hard would likely have done other damage to the bars, steerer, headset, etc. if the stem were on the bike when it happened.