Cinelli stem - safe?
 

I came across this page: http://www.velobase.com/ViewSingleCo...=102&AbsPos=10

A comment says "These are known for cracking in a similar fashion to the Modolos."

Is this true? I have a Cinelli XA on one of my bikes. Should I be concerned? I have never heard this nor had any problems with my stem.

I can't say conclusively that no Cinelli XA has ever cracked, but I can say that in my experience I've never had one fail on me and I've never come across one that has.

As an indication of the faith that I have in these, I can reveal that I've just walked back in a 100mph gale from my workshop, where the last thing I did before locking up was to fit a pair of "TTT Eddy Merckx Paris-Roubaix" bars onto the vintage Holdsworth I'm rebuilding - using, of course, a Cinelli XA stem!

They are not only strong and durable, with those smooth flowing lines they look superb!

I had one that cracked straight across the front through the emblem.....while I was riding.

Now I have heard of one that broke! Were you hurt?

Pretty funny, the guy who wrote that's a member here. I'll start-off by stating that ANY stem can crack, theoretically. we've heard tails of stems and bars breaking.

If I were to list the safest, with the best track record of stems, Cinelli would be on or at least among the top. TRACK RECORD; more 1As were sold and used than any other European made stem. FRENCH stems, the pre-1971 types broke. Modolo, I don't think so. They were popular in their beginning, less so the Cin & 3T, in so, have a smaller body of work to compare and I never heard of snappage in those either.
Two failures is two too many in the bike biz. Rumors spread like wilfire. Stems AND bars are replacement items, they have a "half life"; a point at which one ought to replace them. A new stem should be no problem nor should one with light use.
Cinelli was the first to sell great stems some 45 years ago, good ones had been aroungd but since the mid-60s, they'd improved and cont. to improve. The 26.4 size was Cin.'s own, it req. a 26.4(not 26) bar which was standard on Italian bikes.
They creaked, made noise in some instances most all bars could or did. The dif. with the cin. though was that because there were SO many, it was THEY who got the bad rap. The odds were aginst them. Thousands of ber/stems, a few squeekers.
just make sure you have a 26.4 bar made by Cinelli or to FIT that Cin. stem.

No, I was cruising pretty slow out in front of my place, the bars started to slip, I put a little pressure on them to 'evaluate' the situation and then I heard the stem crack.

I've got a few examples, as in three, of the Cinelli aero stems that've cracked, all at the same place, right across the front through the emblem. None have failed to the point that I was left holding free bars while riding but, yeah, I'd say these stems might have a demonstrable problem.

The pure definition of "drop" bars.

any poor experiences with the later cinelli xe stem? they do not have the front face milled out for the plastic logo (just a sticker on the front), so perhaps they'd be less likely to crack..?

Godawful creaky, yes! xa and xe. Maybe even on 1a. Outright failure, never. Probably 20,000 miles and still going strong.

Modolo had a recall on their early aero stems from the late 80's and early 90's. They tightened around the handlebar with a single bolt under the stem. They broke through that bolt hole, perpendicular to the direction of bike travel. I have had one break and seen several others.

People clamping a bar 26.0 size probably had problems. I can also vouch that the Modolo stems had issues. I had a Modolo stem where the stem bolt gave when I hit a bump in the road. I got really bad road rash but luckily no serious damge.

Don't worry those stems are safe. Don't over tighten the wedge or it could crack. Don't grease the wedge area...Just put a tiny bit on the stem itself and it will be fine.

I don't know about the Cinelli XA, but here's a link to a photo of a Modolo stem failure.

why no grease on the wedge? that's standard protocol for any quill stem, no?

I haver broken both Cinelli 1R and XA stems and posted to this effect several times previously. The last time it happened I was very fortunate that I was not 100 metres further into the ride. It broke about 25m before I crested an overpass. I was going slowly and there was no trafiic, so when the bars fell away, I was simply able to disengage my right foot and step off. If I had been going down the other side at 40-50kph, the consequences would have been very serious. I was also fortunate to be using Look clipless pedals. If I had been using toe clips and straps. I would surely have kissed asphalt.

As stated by Jim, they break across the center of the relief for the insert. This relief for reduces the metal in this area by about 50% and the problem is compounded by theserrations on the inside of the clamp which act as stress risers.

All my active bicycles have had their XA and 1R stems replaced with 1A.

OK, it's the XA that's the devil. I've run the 1As. That Modolo's bad too.

Again, never had a problem myself, nor have I seen this problem in 30 some years of competitive and club riding. That being said, it only takes one accident to end the fun for a long time. Out she goes I guess. I have been switching most of my bikes to Nitto Pearls and the Casati still has the xa while I gather parts. I already have a panto'd 3T Casati stem for the rebuild courtesy of Voodoochile's tip on RBR.

so, with that assessment in mind, would you agree that the XE (from the mid to late 90s) would be safer than the XA? the XE typically does not have a logo relief (the logo is just a flimsy sticker) nor does it have serrated inside clamp.

I have never heard of a failure from an XE...engineers do learn, after all.

The XE is apparently a re-engineered XA. As implied by Luker, Cinelli was probably aware of the XA failures and addressed the design weaknesses to limit potential lawsuits. From what I've seen, an XE should be far less prone to failure than an XA, and about as strong as a 1A, though it may not grip the bar quite as well as the XA due to the elimination of the serrations.

From the article So be doubly aware if you're using aerobars.

When I saw this, you had me running to look at my 25 year old Modolo X-Tenos stem on my old road racer, that has seen some hard use and countless crashes. Fortunately, the model I have is much wider/thicker in the handlebar pinch bolt area and shows no sign of distress. The bar has never slipped and there is no creaking in the bar or fork steerer tube areas.

XAs were manufactured to 26.0 as well as 26.4, for compatibility with other Italian bars.