I am thinking about switching to a shorter stem for my CAAD8; from 100mm to 90mm. My LBS sung me the praises of Thomson stems and sold me an X4 for $90. When I looked it up on the internet, I find out that the X4 is the mountain bike stem and the X2 is the road bike stem. He sold me the wrong stem!

I might as well order online if my LBS manager can't properly sell me the right kind of stem, at a premium price. Question, does the name brand of the stem really matter? If so, what would you recommend?

thanks

Anything but FSA...(from what others have said!)

my FSA OS-115 is sweet. so there.

It's hard to do better than a Thomson X2. $90 is the standard LBS price, but you can get one cheaper.

https://cgi.ebay.com/New-Thomson-X2-R...2em118Q2el1247

see thats's the deal. there's lots of stuff to choose from and everyone has a different opinion. i wouldn't run a thomson even if they paid me, the cnc'd faceplates crack way too easy.
ritchey, oval concepts, deda, syntace all make great stems too.

Thomsons are good - why not just take the one you got back and exchange it for the road bike version?

Ok, I have to know... What's the difference between a mountain and a road stem? I'm assuming the MTB version is slightly heavier, but is there any other difference?

Bingo. Heavier and stronger (you hope )

I'm actually kind of partial to the bontrager ones, the Race X Lite is pretty nice.

Thomson stems are great. They're strong and have many different sizes to choose from. And the finish is sleek.

The X2 is slightly lighter and has a different angle. The X4 may have matched your current stem's rise more closely than the X2. If you're concerned about the extra 20 grams, take it back to your LBS and exchange it for an X2. FWIW, the X4 is still very weight competitive with comparable "road" stems.

They're nice looking but overkill for road bikes. Trade it for a Ritchey WCS 4-Axis which is about 2 ounces lighter too. One of the lightest aluminum stems out there at 115g for a 100mm.

I have the Richey WCS 4-Axis. It does the job, and looks nice, is strong, without being heavy. What more would you want in a stem?

wait, um, road bars are standard 26.0 and 31.8...don't MB bars do like, um, 25.4? I don't think that you'll be getting that to work with a road bar...

+1 great quality and pretty light weight too!

X2 & X4 are 31.8

The Elite is 25.4 & 26.0

EDIT: X2 and X4 actually I think are the almost same other than the angles they come in and the 2 vs. 4 bolt faceplate. X2 comes in 10 & 17 degree and the X4 in 0 & 10. Maybe some slight machining differences too, hard to tell.

OP: If the stem gets your fit right, don't worry about it - you've got a quality piece of equipment there.

I've gotten a recommendation for the Easton EA90 stem from my LBS. They can order Thomson (and have before) but they have Eastons in stock (even my length in the display case) and put them on their team bikes.

I'd get either a Thomson X2 or an EA90 myself, just depending on how spontaneous I feel.

forged > cnc
anyday.

I have the EA90. Its Easton's newest aluminum stem. Its light and stiff enough. I had an Oval Concepts stem and that was the stiffest I've used, but weighs about what a Thompson X2 weighs, which is not on the light end of the scale. In addition the collar is much taller than other stems, so it changes up the stack height and spacers considerably.

The Thompson X2 is a nice, stiff stem, beautifully machined, and a reasonable weight: on the heavier end of whats considered light. I would reject the X4 and exchange it for one of the following:

Thompson X2
Ritchey WCS
Easton EA90

Think that the EA90 would be enough of a step up from a stock Cannondale C4 stem?

I have a Richey stem. It's a Pro something. Great looking.

not really, especially when it comes to aluminium.

I've got ITM stems, a 3ttt, Eastons, 2 Cinellis and an old Deda Zero, and as far as 'performance' goes, I can't tell the difference. The length and angle is obviously the most important, then after that, just go for price, availability and looks

To me, stems are commodities. The decisions factors are simply:

Essential:
clamp size
length
angle

Totally personal preference:
Price
Weight
looks

Get one you like the looks of and can afford in the size you need. The weight difference between a relatatively cheap one and an expensive one will be 160-180 grams compared to 100 - 120 grams, so it's nothing at all to worry about unless you're trying to achieve a certain weight goal.

I have two - chosen only because they are pretty high end aluminum stems, but I found them pretty cheap on ebay: a Ritchey WCS and a Syntace 99. But they function no better or worse than stems I could have gotten for 1/2 the price.