polished

Oh yeah.

My favorites:

My Gunnar


My StumpJumper

Yay Mechanics o Materials! I loved that class, looking forward to some finite element analysis in a term or two.

Indeed nice stuff, but flexxy. I had the first series of their stem (130 grams) and even I could notice it flex under power. Also very delicate stuff to handle, you really need to look after torque specs with these kind of stems. For normal road rides yes, for sprinting/track no.

I actually put the old type stem back on my MTB, bought a new one. Bit skeptic at first, have run Thomson in the mean time, took really good care when installing. Still flexxy, but it is a nice minimal looking stem.

In the US you can get extralite stuff through light-bikes.com, this will make things a bit easier for you guys to get. Extralite can be a bit of a pain to deal with. No personal experience but I did know the guy that was a distributor for them.

Salsa or Thomson would be my advice.

Purple might be a bit much...

http://www.llewellynbikes.com/thegallery/album47/aaa

^^

I want a carbon fiber chain.

http://xoomgear.com/i/p/l/STEM-1006.jpg


ass ugly but interesting

I am not so sure - this creates way more stress points and less contact area than traditional bolts on the outside. I know how bad this wedge thing worked for a bar clamp for an old Dura Ace design. It looks nice, though.

Anyone know where this can be purchased in 1 & 1/8?

It can't. It was only ever made in 1".

It's out of production now, too, so they're hard to find.

that would explain why I have never been able to find one then :)

I have a black one, 120mm, along with one of the pinup girl stickers. If anyone in the thread is interested, I'll sell it cheap. :)

thomson stems look like the dong on a leggo donkey.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Dibs. Send me a message with watcha want eh?

Seeing a Thomson stem makes you hot?! ThAT IS NOTHING. Have a look at this. She designs bike helmets. No joke.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos...interlarge.jpg

I have one that I don't use .pm me

i haven't looked lately but generally there's several on ebay at any one time as well. I remember seeing them in multiple colors a couple months ago when i was considering one.

Nah, by that I meant found them in 1 1/8

If this is for a 1" threadless steerer on a black steel TIG'd bike, the Chromo Salsa is the only stem I'd even consider. Every thing else is overpriced and ugly on that kind of bike. The cult of Thomson can **** off, they look like an unfinished leftover of the nineties CNC craze. All they need is some purple anodizing to seal the deal.

... hence the awesomeness. If Thomson sold a purple stem I don't think they could keep them in stock.

I can't wrap my head around the fact that a bunch of art school kids and general bike aesthetes love the salsa stem. I mean, look at the ****ing thing! It's hideous!

Shhh ... sleep now, my princess.

Skinny tubed Chromo stems are just so RIGHT with skinny tubed Chromo frames. Nothing worse than a nice skinny tubed track bike with a giant leggo donkey dong hanging awkwardly off the front of it. Bulky stems ruin the aesthetic of everything but OS tubed modern AL bikes for me.

Also, as much as I love the utility of removable faceplates, the original Salsa stems are where it's at. They can be had cheaply if you look for them.