Looking over my small collection of old bikes, I realize that I don't have any Cinelli stems at all!

I do have a nice pantographed 3TTT stem on my Olmo Competition, though...

https://live.staticflickr.com/4403/3...378d51_c_d.jpg

It is holding a bulged 3TTT h'bar, despite the T.A. bar cage covering up the bar logos.

Steve in Peoria

3TTT fan here. Mutant stem and Prima 199 bars on my Look KG96:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...39756dc5b.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...51a9c8f22.jpeg
I don’t care who you are, the Mutant stem is sex.
I have other 3T stems and a Prima 220 in my ‘stash, nice but like I said earlier - the late period 3TTT products just seem more interesting

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4bdbeb352.jpeg

I do have a lovely Cinelli Frog stem as well. I might put this on my Look later in conjunction with my carbon Kestrel bar. The carbon bar flexed and creaked too much with the 2 bolt Mutant stem.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...29ad5deb8.jpeg
Oh yeah - Please buy this Cinelli bar from me- I’ve been trying to sell it in the C&V for sale section for months now

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...946b96ecb.jpeg

:thumb: That's money right there, beautiful.

Have always loved 3ttt.

One of the first high end components I bought was a 3ttt stem, really long for a frame that was a bit small for me when I got it, Record with the little windows that I paint infilled and stickers, cool as heck.

Next was engraved Mafac 2000 brakeset and a Campy 2 bolt SP.

Classic Cinelli only for me, steel or alloy with oval stamp and classic crest bars, don't give a flyin ef about the winged logo. :D

I really like my "Gimondi Bend" 3ttt bars on my Bianchi (with pantographed 3ttt stem).
The bars start curving on top a lot sooner than "standard" bars. I don't know that Cinelli makes/made this style of bar.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3371f75169.jpg

[MENTION=455882]Bianchi84[/MENTION] - cinelli 65 40: Search Result | eBay
I have a set on my Langster, often referred to as the Criterium bend. Also come in 38.

I know in the early 1970s when I was becoming really interested, Cinelli bars were mainly 26.4 mm. Later on they added a 26.0 mm option, but I don't know anything real about a timeline. This all comes from what I saw in shops and catalogs, and I don't know when changes were actually made.

I'd bet Asian competition had an influence, and French companies made a lot of bars and stems as well. Did they follow Cinelli "standards?" Were any actual written standards?

If there's an uglier forged aluminum stem in existence, I don't know what it would be. And I thought TIG-welded steel stems were ugly...

Someone in management actually approved that thing for production? Whoever named it didn't think it was "sex" either.

Well, same-country-wise, yeah, I guess. But for the past 35 years in cycling, it's been a rivalry between Shimano and Campagnolo.

There are plenty of Sun Tour fans here, but try as they might, they were just never really a player in the high-end road-bike game in the 1980s. Maybe they were better when it came to mountain bikes, but since I'm not a MTB fan, I wouldn't know.

Francesco Moser’s main bicycle year 1979. This machine was ridden to victory in the Paris Roubaix that same year. It’s a De Rosa with 3ttt bars and 12CM 3ttt stem. I’ve got similar bars (Gimondi bend), and the same stem (in black, panto) on my 1978. 3ttt equipment was tendered into racing service at all levels. Good stuff.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1b3d9baad.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d6d8b632c.jpeg

I have no preference for whether I use a 3ttt or Cinelli stem on my builds. I have a drawer full with both. My deciding factor for using one over the other is based on the bars I use. If they are 26.4 it is Cinelli. If smaller I use 3ttt.

I prefer 3t to Cinelli, at least with stems and handlebars. In fact I'm a bit of a 3t quill stem fan boy, the ones with the bolt hidden underneath (I think the model is Record84) are sculpted, curvaceous bits of lovelyness, such an elegant design. I have them paired with 3t Super Competizione (Merckx bend) bars on 6 bikes. 4 of them in silver like my Tommasini
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9d92dc5a0c.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3976297618.jpg
I've got the black stem version on 2 bikes, here on my Merckx
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...257eadf34d.jpg
....and I've got the gunmetal stem and bar combo on my titanium bike.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...399f4ac984.jpg
And I've been told the pantographed stem on my Somec is a 3t stem, though I don't know the model name of this if it is..
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...24290c66bf.jpg

I do have a single Cinelli stem and bars on my Nikor, and though functionally I don't have any issues with them, they are not as pretty in my opinion, the engraving is not as nice and the black plastic insert with the Cinelli logo fell out of my stem somewhere in London, so I'm holding that against them:p
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7239cb370a.jpg

Huge fan of the old ones. ;)


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...581dc85484.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c13736c8d7.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ca79c21aa6.jpg