what would i actually lose by buying a no name stem instead of say...a nitto stem....besides street cred....could it actually make a real difference?

street cred is earned by how you ride...not what you ride.

Maybe a few grams, no big deal, probably stronger than some of the more expensive name brand stems, trust me you do not want to break one, it isnt pretty.

Street cred over a stem, sheesh, ya maybe to a REAL snob,then again I know a few guys that just arent happy unless they have the best bling there is.

I'm pretty sure that Nitto cold forges their stems. I could see a cheaper stem simply being poured. Forging aligns the metal grain and makes it stronger.

On the other hand, I could be completely mistaken and none of the above is true.

I agree, but then again there's an awful lot of folks out there that never grew up mentally you know?Most folks dont ride much or have mad skills, so what else they gonna judge people by LOL?Peer pressure among messengers to ride SS or fixed is a perfect example, although at least when it comes right down to it, a SS or fixed is usually the best tool for the job.

What's this, high school? All the messengers I know don't give a hoot what you ride but how fast you are.

Hey, lots of rookie messengers are fresh out of highschool, so ya, sometimes they can be juvenile.Ive known quite a few like that, there's one like that working here where I live now.

For the most part, ya they, er we, respect skills and speed, but it hardly applies to everyone.

A bad thing about no-name stems or ANY part for that matter is the unknown. You don't know HOW the part was made, and what, if any Quality Assurance standards and what happens if the part were to fail.

For stems, I wouldn't be quite as concerned as say, FORKS, but if you're willing to accept a level of risk with parts you have no knowledge of, and likely no warranty with then more power to ya.