Bike Forums - Upgrade Stem Question?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Tariq08 (Post 8215594)

I would have to disagree with you there, my carbon bars have probably been the best upgrade I've done to my bike as far as comfort is concerned, they absorb the road significantly better than the aluminum ones I had on before, and they were both Ritchey with pretty much the same design, the only difference was the material. Oh, and the carbon bars are about 50 grams lighter I believe.

Really? What model, size and series were the two bars? Did you actually weigh them? I'm always willing to learn something.

I'm a big fan of Ritchey's WCS series bars and stems. In part, it was a hands-on comparison of the various Ritchey WCS products that convinced me aluminum is the way to go. GENERALLY, an equivalent sized Ritchey carbon bar will weigh out within 10g +/- the same size/model in aluminum -- and it will cost a lot more (about four TIMES as much).

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashBazbo (Post 8216857)

I'm a big fan of Ritchey's WCS series bars and stems. In part, it was a hands-on comparison of the various Ritchey WCS products that convinced me aluminum is the way to go. GENERALLY, an equivalent sized Ritchey carbon bar will weigh out within 10g +/- the same size/model in aluminum -- and it will cost a lot more (about four TIMES as much).

Not bars, but I can tell you that with the equivalent WCS 4-axis 100mm stems, the carbon one was about 10g lighter. Even though it is carbon-wrapped, it is not like it's the same size as the aluminum one before wrapping. It was only twice as much though ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AsianCarbon (Post 8214229)

And it's an upgrade how?

carbon looks without the stiffness trade-off, due to the Al. ti bolts to reduce weight

Picture the range of usefulness of CF as a continuum.

At one end you've got carbon fibre xc ski poles, racing sailboats, and violins.
At the other end, carbon fibre hoods on SUVs, interior door panels, lawn furniture.
Those CF stems are pretty close to the lawn furniture, but with the added feature of being potentially dangerous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metzinger (Post 8219631)

At one end you've got carbon fibre xc ski poles, racing sailboats, and violins.

Wow, violins? Really?

Here's my stem "upgrade". Replaced the one on the top with the one on the bottom :D

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/4587.jpg

It's more like a 'down' grade than an upgrade ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashBazbo (Post 8216857)

I went from the Logic II to the Evolution SL, so it was actually about a 40 gram difference

I didn't get the carbon bars for the weight savings though..I wasn't happy with my hand position on the Logic II's and the LBS recommended the Evolution bars for the design, I ended up finding the SL for a great deal on ebay around Christmas so I jumped on it. For the record the hand positions were significantly better for me on the Evolutions than the Logic II's, the weight savings and general comfort of carbon bars were just a nice bonus.

I was wary about carbon bars too from what I read on here, but so far so good. I understand why people don't race in them because if they fall and their bars snap then they're screwed, but since I don't race and I haven't fallen yet I figure in my case it's worth the risk.