pick your ideal or favorite and discuss which has the best stiffness to weight, the best bang for the buck, and/or the best aesthetic.

I would choose for my stem a machined one piece, no weld stem like a thompson and for a bar... well I think I might have to go boring old heat treated aluminum. Something strong like a nitto though. I want my grill intact, I like strength.

cinelli 67 pistas and 2a stem mmm hmmmm mmm hmm

i'm riding an aluminum jaguar with b125aa's. it's been a nice setup so far.

well if aesthetics are the only concern...

sigh

I've never been into the no bar tape track drop thing. All 4 of my bikes currently have steel Salsa stems and aluminum bars.

i'm generally a fan of the cinelli stem aesthetic. i recently got (what i consider to be a great deal on) a cinelli stem. as far as i can tell, it's a 1/a, but with a 26.0 mm clamp. the new cinelli logo is stamped on the top, and i think the finish is gorgeous. it was listed as used, but i couldn't find any evidence that it was mounted or that bars were installed in it. i think i paid like $20 shipped...

You may have this confused. The older cinelli standard if 26.4mm, You can get a shim or just make one out of a pbr can.

I beleive they only recently changed it to 25.4mm and 26mm, late 90s.

aluminum stem w carbon risers.

i really like carbon bars, but they are so un-track. ally nittos for the track bike, carbon for the rest. a stem is just a stem, some are prettier than others.

i have a cinelli 1a with a 26.0 clamp. it is out there

alloy both...and *gasp* threadless!!!! it's just better. especially if it's a stiffness to weight argument. i rock an oversize bontrager race stem to the deda pista bars. flex less than my friends njs stuff. (alloy stem steel bars)

Last night I had a dream that my bars started breaking apart. Like, I could just twist the metal and parts of it would pop off, like clay.

xthugmurderx - are you using elementi (alum) or velocita (steel), because I ran elementi's for a while and they were a flex-fest compared to my nittos. I bet it's due to the stem.

how is surface rust cool?

i use the elementi ones (alloy). they're plenty stiff for me. did you ride them on the flat part of the drop or in the bend before it's done tapering? the end of the drop is a little flexy, but if you ride them with your elbows bent in the drops, they're solid.

and the steel drops are definitely not going to flex much if at all, and if paired with a steel stem (like i did on my spagetti bender build) it's not going anywhere, but at a cost. they're heavy as balls. i don't need that.

-jason

The elementi's are somewhat flexy, I think it was more due to my stem though ( cheap Felt). I completely agree with you on the weight thing though. I traded someone my dedas for the nittos. First time I felt them I almost dropped them it surprised me so much.

thats not rust, thats blood from my victims.

well then, okay.

I probably weight alot more than you but I have bent several pairs of cheap bars and broken others.
Talk about some scary happenings you are never prepared for it when it happens.

Patina, please!

what do you guys think of this guy.

edit: Think it retails for about 110

--Aaron

i personally think that stem looks dope as hell. i'd rock it in a heartbeat. do you know who distributes them?

-jason

on the right bike it could look really cool. however as far as gaudy threadless stems go, i prefer the cinelli graphis: