I had this same thing happen on my mountain bike Thomson face plate about 2 weeks ago. It was replaced under warranty thru Thomson directly, very nice to deal with. I was told it was from over torqueing the bolts. I didn't feel as though I over tightened them as I've got carbon bars and didn't want to crush the bars but I'm not going to say they are wrong either.

I have an X-2 and noticed last week that it's cracked as well (and it's not over-torqued).

its not just overtorqued bolts, its the pattern of tightening the bolts. I had a steel stem crack due to overtroquing a bolt, I did not notice the crack for years. even with the crack, the handlebar was rock solid. between my steel stem and my thomson stem, I'm not sure which is stiffer.

Yeah, just got a DEDA ZeRO 100 and love it.

I just had my Thomson X2 faceplate crack yesterday as i was crossing RR tracks. The bars rotated downward, and I felt like I was going over the front wheel. Fortunately, I didn't, but once I stopped and realized what happened, it was a long, slow limp back home. My LBS, GetAGrip Cycles in Chicago, has been great. They swapped out the stem for a loaner, and they're taking care of a replacement with Thomson. Out of curiousity, I started to do a Google search for "Thomson X2", and the auto-complete feature gave me the full "Thomson X2 cracked faceplate" as a topic, and even though this is all just anecdotal evidence, there are several posts on this and other forums that relate similar stories. It's still a small number compared to how many Thomson has probably made, but I think it's at least interesting, if not significant. Thanks to those of you who have had this happen and shared your experience here. Now I don't feel like the victim of a fluke failure.

I just had Thomson replace the faceplate for mine (free other than postage to send the cracked one to them). I had it back in a week. They said it happens when torque wrenches aren't calibrated properly... hmmmm...

Unless they inspected your torque wrench as well, I'd be a bit skeptical about that explanation.

Someone suggested to me that a washer between the bolt and the faceplate would have been an effective way for Thomson to prevent the bolt from inducing additional stress into the faceplate, whether or not the bolt is torqued properly. In other words, the bolt is only supposed to provide tension along its axis. Without a washer, the bolt is also providing surface stresses in the faceplate.

My story has a happy ending. My local bike store replaced the stem with a loaner stem when I brought the bike in, and then 10 days later called me in, and now I've got a new replacement Thomson X2. Pretty painless on my end, and thanks to Get a Grip Cycles.

Hmmm, I just got an FSA OS stem that has a carbon faceplate, and washers on the screws. Is the proper torquing procedure an X patern - top right, bottom left, top left, bottom right - repeat? I'd hate to crack the thing! It's so pretty.

My Tomson Elite X2 is cracked in three places. Just noticed one of the fractures after hitting a crack in the road 10 miles into a 50 mile ride yesterday. It wasn't even a hard hit, but something didn't sound right. As I continued to ride I started looking over the area where I heard the "slap" and saw the fracture on one of the "clamp arms" for the steerer tube. I finished the ride (out with a friend), but it was nerve-racking and not worth it in hindsight.

After removing it last night, I noticed the faceplate is cracked in two different places and one of the "clamp arms" for the steerer tube is fractured completely through.

Wow, my X2 stem also cracked in three places, exactly like yours.

http://i51.tinypic.com/2u91fya.jpg

Contacted Thomson twice, via the contact page on their website. No reply. Very disappointed in both the stem and the company.

I'm riding a forged stem, now, thank you.

I read in another forum thread somewhere that a Thomson stem cracked off completely where it meets the fork steerer. Not sure what the deal is because they have a reputation for making bomb-proof stuff, but you really never know. It makes me a little nervous because they seem to be one of those boutique machine shops that happens to make bicycle parts. You never know if they have quality control standards in place like the big companies do. I was thinking about going with a Thomson stem for my caad9 build, but I'll probably go with something from a larger company instead. The stem is one part I don't want to take a chance with.

So what about the not-so-usually case?

Cracked three Thomson face plates on MtB's. Lube the threads on the screws as well, it helps with even torque. Also cracked a stem proper-now that was exciting-no steering control at all.

2nd time for me. Emailed Thomson, reply said over torquing, sweat, citrus cleaners are the culprit. Can't do anything about sweat, bike shops knows how to install components, soap and water only when cleaning.
Noticed the crack when cleaning my bike after a fast club ride, had 35 mph max speed on the computer from a long decent on a bridge! :eek:

What material was the faceplate? CF or AI?

7000 series Al

So they design parts that cannot handle the intended service environment?

that sure doesn't sound right.

I searched google to find Thomson products and came up with numerous reports of this problem. They did say they would warranty the plate, bike shop is replacing mine with another newer one. I'll check after every ride to see what happens with this 3rd one.

when i was doing research on stems, i read about lots of faceplates cracking on thomson stems. so went with the 3t

I present a Deda Zero 100 stem...
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...eak?highlight=

My little surprise last year.

Found my Thomson mountain stem faceplate cracked this weekend, though I have not ridden in a couple years.
My guess is temperature extremes.....

Cracked my first CF
plate the first day I installed it. It was FSA and completely my fault. Torque wrench was my next purchase.