I was looking at a nitto stem that was just what I wanted at a good price, but then I saw it had a small (dime width) ding. Would you ride a stem with a ding?

I wouldn't, even though the chances are probably small of a catastrophic failure...but if it does fail, lookout!

It's just not worth the chance.

Nitto is also a popular in Japanese track racing, called Keirin racing, so this stem might have been in a bad track accident...

True, I'd just been looking for a 100 mm technomic with a 25.4 clamp and finally found one at a reasonable price, but I was thinking the same thing about it probably won't fail, but if it does...Especially since it's a build for my wife. Not worth the risk.

Yes, keep the wife safe! Unless of course your thinking of doing something...uhh, I'm sorry...forget I said that...

I had the binder bolt on a Cinelli stem break on me when I was standing on the pedals and leaning over the bars for some speed, and it was all I could do to keep from going head over-bars and get the bike stopped. Trust me, it's a very bad feeling to have the bars drop out from below you when you leaning hard on them!

I don't think I can help, but I can learn here: by "Nitto stem" I picture a very nice cast alloy (aluminum?) L piece that fits into the steerer tube and holds the handle bar. If that's what you mean, then a 1/2 inch wide 'ding' in an alloy casting sounds pretty serious. I've heard that castings are pretty strong but more brittle than rolled metal and that sort of 'ding' would have me worried about internal fractures. I can break an iron casting with a good wallop from a hammer. I'm sure that aluminum castings are less brittle but still, that sounds like something that would take a pretty good wallop to create. I'd be real worried about the integrity of the piece.

Or am I just up the wrong tree?

Without seeing a picture of the ding or knowing if the dime width is the width, depth or both of the ding, I agree with this, however, if this ding it actually damage from improper wrenching on a headset, a gouge where material is displaced at a shallow depth and then the displaced aluminum filed down to look and function better it may not be that serious.

I think that's the case. Just saw photos only, but maybe 1 cm wide, half or quarter that tall, and maybe a few mm deep. It's likely a gouge rather than a bend, but I just couldn't tell from the photos. Either way, probably better safe than sorry.

A stem is a hearty component. I think of a ding as a small impact point that displaces a small amount of metal. A 1/2 gash that makes you question the integrity of a Nitto stem; answers it's own question. Good stems in great shape are common. Pass.

A few years ago I bought a bike with an early Cinelli 1a stem before they anodized them. Upon polishing it up I found a flaw, it did not even look like a crack, just like a black hair on the surface, a forming flaw in the metal, probably there from the start, perhaps just below the surface.

Bummer as it was a French sized one too. Be careful out there.

Is the gouge worse than pantographing?

That would be my test.

I would not race/ride with that.

Nor would I.

Looks great though.

All Nitto stems are forged and forgings are much stronger than castings. The better Nitto stems are cold forged, which makes them stronger yet, because the grain follows the shape of the stem.

This thread is useless without a picture of the offending Ding.

Thanks GB, cold forged makes much more sense. I really had not thought you could forge aluminum, hot or cold. I should read up on that......

But like [MENTION=107705]Thumpic[/MENTION], I took "ding" to be impact damage and 'width of a dime' to be ~1/2 inch. A gouge the thickness of a dime (2-3mm) is different. I musta read it wrong. Awaiting the photos.

I would venture to guess there are other examples of pantographing.

Would you care to post every other example and give a thumbs up or down.

I've been patient thus far.

Why chance it? There are many stems available out there...find one without the gouge...

A pantograph is a controlled and planned design feature with predictable performance. Random damage is the exact opposite with predictable performance.

Maybe you should rethink your position...

Would I? Depends on an actual picture I think to make a better assessment. Just going off of what I read in your original post, I probably would ride it. It could be not much more than just cosmetic damage.

Can your stem fail? Most definitely. Is it more likely to fail than one in perfect shape? Absolutely. However, as long as as the rider isn't He-Man and you ride in a reasonable manner (full pressure on the bars while chugging up hills might not be something you want to do) it should hold up long enough to find a suitable stem that fits your budget.

Then again, this is all speculation as we haven't inspected said stem.

This is the intarwebz, bub, take your facts elsewhere.

OK, I guess I was looking at the wrong thing (a reflection) when I said dime-sized. I thought that was a scrape. Looking more closely at the picture, the gouge is a little divot in the top/middle of the bar a bit above that. This is the advertisment I'd been looking at since people want to see the picture: Nitto Technomics Stem 115mm x 200mm Used GC Silver | eBay

Like I said, it's the size I want at a price I like, but I don't know about that divot. I'm trying to build a bike with swept back bars (have mustache in the bin that'll fit mtb levers) with a taller stem so my wife can have a more upright position on the 1985 Cannondale ST-400 frame I'm going with. Originally the plan was to go with a soma hi-rise adapter and a threadless stem (both of which I have on hand from other builds), but that's kind of ugly. To be perfectly honest, if they made those Sunlite dirt drop bars with the removable face in lengths longer than 80 mm, I'd be a happy camper, but I just saw this technomic, and it looked like I could use it to get the bars at a position where I'd want them without breaking the bank. But not breaking my wife's face is more important.

Keep in mind that my opinion is just that and that I am no certified mechanic. Personally, I would have no qualms about riding a bike with that stem at all. I've seen far worse. Coupled with the fact that your wife is going to ride more upright, thus less pressure on the handlebars, and it strengthens my thought process.

It's up to you, but seems OK to me.

Sorry........but I would not have even glanced twice at that. Ride on.....

That almost looks like shop wear. Personally, I wouldn't be at all reluctant to to use that stem.

That's assuming the pantograph is done by the people who made the stem, not someone after the fact (who may or may not have art more in mind than structural integrity). Not that I'm necessarily disagreeing with you, just have seen some panto'd stems that really look like they were done by an amateur. Pretty, but spacing with manufacturer's stampings seemed off, so I'm not sure how it's a planned design feature that is in tune with what the manufacturer feels is safe.

Edit: changed the word fork to stem because I'm not sure what massive brain fart made me write fork in the first place.