Those cheapo Forte stems are forged; Thomson are CNC'd to make them more crack-friendly:

http://gallery.mtbr.com/data/mtbr/500/cracked-stem.jpg

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=564429

Trek has good lawyers that will avoid paying you if a Bont stem breaks. You are hurt plus poorer. With ebay stems you maybe just hurt. All made in the same place in China probably. Stems anyway.

Those are a pretty good bang for the buck.

I recently changed to an EA90 though. It has a nifty mechanism to prevent one from crushing carbon (or light aluminum) bars by not tightening the faceplate evenly. They are also on sale cheap here:

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...Ea90+Stem.aspx

Ok. So you would trust a stem from Ritchey, Thompson, or Bontrager. You would not trust a no-name stem from an online auction site. Would you trust a $15 alloy stem from Nashbar?

The thing about this site is that 90% of the failures are damage caused by a crash or some dumbass leaving their bike on the roof and driving into the garage. If I'm paying $300 for bars and I crash and they break when he bike contacts the ground, I'm gonna be really pissed. If I'm paying $60 and that happens, I know I can replace these ebay bars 5 times over for that same $300.

The real issue is if your carbon breaks for seemingly no reason while just riding. I'm sure that there are instances of this happening but i highly doubt its happening much with regular recreational cyclists.

Oh, btw, aluminum breaks during crashes too.

Everything breaks, it's just a question of whether the generic item purchased is made to the same standard as a branded product since brand names have more at stake in producing quality than a generic company would. There's also the question of whether the item is made using the same type of carbon and to the same spec, just because something looks the same doesn't mean it is. Bottom line is it's just a matter of taking that chance, so if people are happy taking the chance to save some money then go for it. There is of course the mark up that goes along with brand products but it's not just the name you pay for but the customer service and design that goes into the products, where applicable of course since some companies leave the designing to third parties as well but sign off on the process and quality control.

I'm fully with you on that except that it satisfies the rider putting out the money.

It's like owning a vintage Ferrari.
The fashionista will want the latest model for looks.
The connoisseur will know "why" they want a vintage steed.
There's something beautiful about how a late 60's v-12 sounds.

For me, it's worth it if it puts a smile on my face.

Every time I look down at my cockpit, I will remember
that I didn't settle for less than what I wanted.
And DAMN it just looks soooooo good!

It's like settling for the ugly girl when you can have the hot one if both are equally good "inside".

The bottle of wine to me is a waste (I don't drink).
And shorts that cheap usually aren't "that" good either.
Meanwhile, the extra $105. I put into my stem will be with
me years after the shorts and the wine are gone just.

For me, in Mountain Biking, XTR or XX is overkill for a trail.
Cross Country Racing where one can take advantage of the weight savings
and the precision of those top of the line groupsets, there they make sense.
XT or X.9 are excellent IMO for trail riding and for heavy hitting, SLX is actually preferred to XT.

In the end, it's all relative.

:)

One thing; I've never known anyone who regretted actually getting "more" than what they needed.

:D

ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL BESIDES LOOKS...

If hat girl wanted you to take her to McDonalds and she'd be yours forever
and The Megan (or fill in your choice of hotness) wanted you to take her to
Applebees and she'd be yours forever, which would you "invest" in?

http://www.28th-infantry-division.us...20girl%200.bmp

VS

http://www.wiihotties.com/wp-content...ansformers.jpg

Nobody likes a high maintenance girl

I'd be curious to hear what someone with knowledge in these materials has to say after dissecting the cheap stuff and expensive stuff--whether or not there is a difference in quality, or just in brand name. There's a reason for everything.

with ebay stems, you would be surprised how often the ebay model is identical to some sort of industry model. Many times, a company that owns the design in the U.S. will have China do the work. The factory will then produce extras using the same molds and materials but not label them and then sell them online. They can do this because there is pretty much no entity to enforce international "law" when it comes to contracts.

I knew someone would miss the hypothetical part of my post...that's why I posted:

Source needed.

1. The first girl is heinous and the second girl is attractive. This does not accurately represent the differences between cheap and expensive stems.

2. The question at hand is whether or not there is a reason to choose the expensive stem over the cheap stem: i.e. quality.. . your hypothetical assumes there is no difference in quality, and thus misses the point.

A better hypothetical would have been this.

You can either take girl one on a cheap date and get lucky.
http://www.kinkycelebrity.com/wp-con...ky-300x300.jpg

Or, you can take girl two on an expensive date and get lucky.
http://urbanupdater.files.wordpress....bilson-hot.jpg

However in taking girl 1, you may run the risk of some nasty infections upon getting lucky. What do you do?

What's better?
Cheap aluminum or high quality carbon?

Or, you can make up your own continue to make up your own hypothetical situations!

In my post, (again); "ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL BESIDES LOOKS..."


:lol:

(BTW...the supposedly "safer" appearing girl there would be the high quality stem)

Exactly.. but it's safer because of the possible problems from the first one. If there are no problems, then go for the first one. The question is based on quality, not looks.

Main advantage is bragging rights when you strut around the coffee shop.

Can you provide a source on that?

I know about international contracts and the easiest way domestic companies enforce contracts is the the threat of cancellation and no future business for violations. It may be different with cycling but overseas compaines value repeat business.

Your hot chick analogies are pointless... maybe you will gain some insight with some automobile analogies. No wait, we already did that in posts #11 and #58.

Do they teach kids anything about logic and reasoning, or is all discussion and debate supposed to be in the form of bogus analogies nowadays? :50:

A better analogy would be a nice pretty girl from a well respected family versus a nice pretty girl that just strolled into town last week.

Other than straight formal logic, logical reasoning uses analogies pretty much more than any other method.

When possible, I gladly will have both quality AND looks!
;)

I had no idea that a discussion of stems could be so...steamy.

I can see why good raw to raw contact on your stem would definitely be a deciding factor. :D

This.