Wert Straight Shooter stem

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dereksmalls
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by dereksmalls

Any update Rico?

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mythical
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by mythical

Still working on production, the website and other stuff. However, there is this post from the Wert Cycling Facebook page regarding handlebar positioning:

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by Weenie


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BrianAllan
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by BrianAllan

Any updates?

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mythical
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by mythical

I'll be honest with you guys, it's been one hurdle after the other causing all these delays for Wert Cycling. The stem design has been ready and tested for some years. Earlier this year it received some final tweaking for easier, faster and cheaper manufacturing that come with some aesthetic and performance improvements as well.

With manufacturers pretty much onboard, we're currently focusing on the financial side. It's too expensive to launch the Straight Shooter stem in only a few lengths and leaving others to await their respective sizes for an unknown time. Since cost price is too high in smaller numbers, our Wert stem will only be commercially viable in larger production numbers. We're talking 14 sizes, 7 lengths (75-90-100-110-120-130-145mm) in 2 angles (±7.5º and ±17º), and series of units adding up to many hundreds in total to ensure immediate availability at all times and a price point of €198, which should be reasonably affordable for a product of this calibre.

Wert Cycling doesn't yet have its own manufacturing or the necessary resources for such a large investment, so we'll soon call upon the cycling public to help us realize the final step of this project. If you want to be among the first to obtain your Wert Straight Shooter stem, subscribe at the Wert Cycling website to receive more information soon on how to do that.

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“I always find it amazing that a material can actually sell a product when it’s really the engineering that creates and dictates how well that material will behave or perform.” — Chuck Teixeira

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ergott
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by ergott

Have you reconsidered your crank design to work with the current 4 bolt trend?

highdraw

by highdraw

mythical wrote:Allow me to address a few common misconceptions. First of all, whether forged or CNC-machined, the point at which a part fails (and all parts will fail!) is not determined by how it's manufactured, but rather by how well it's engineered. My aim was to build a stronger and stiffer stem in absolute terms. Why? I wasn't satisfied with the selection of stems I tried, e.g. a Ritchey 4-Axis WCS and Thomson X4, all 130mm, and hoped I could do better.

With FEA (Finite Element Analysis) only being a predictive tool, we calculated how my 3D-stem models behaved when applying the stringent EN14781 and EN14766 test protocols (respectively for road and mountainbikes). The published FEA-report concluded that stresses remained well below the fatigue limit of AL7075-T6 aluminum, the material used for this stem. Currently, these claims are undergoing validation through real world testing by our development partner, a trusted handlebar manufacturer in Germany. The project sustained minor delays caused by illness and faulty manufacturing, so final results are still pending.

Should this stem pass the demanding EN-tests, a basic requirement for stems raced in UCI events, an even greater challenge arises: Convincing potential buyers that our stem is sufficiently strong, stiff and durable, and safe enough for its given application despite its low weight.

As for stiffness values, they mean little by themselves. Such numbers only speak through comparative data generated by pitting this stem against competitors. Blessings to those with patience and understanding! :thumbup:

Would love to hear with specificity why you believe the Ritchey 4-Axis WCS stem to be substandard. What metrics/criteria do you use to make this judgment?

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mythical
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by mythical

Substandard? I never made such a claim. For many, myself included, Ritchey can be considered the standard. A while ago it was the Ritchey 4-Axis, now it's their C260.

For years, I rode stems from Syntace, Ritchey, Thomson, 3T, etc. In fact, Ritchey sought to collaborate or hire me but it we had different goals. I have much respect for Tom Ritchey and his team and their efforts have brought so many innovations to cycling already. However, I wanted an even stiffer and lighter stem.

Since I mainly ride a 130mm with 100mm reach bars on my road bike, I found that lighter stems lack the torsional stiffness I desire, thus I often preferred a stiffer but heavier stem. The stiffness of a Thomson Elite X4 suited me well (see Fairwheel Bikes' Stem Review to get the idea) but I wanted a stem that weighed half that. Since such a stem didn't exist, I set out to design and develop one myself.

I used the same materials, design & production processes and testing protocols available to everyone and I succeeded in my goal. What I now seek to accomplish is making the Wert stem available for a wider cycling public.

ergott wrote:Have you reconsidered your crank design to work with the current 4 bolt trend?
Briefly. My main reservation is the price of Shimano 4-bolt chainring set. There is a newer lighter Wert crankset under development that's more modular and has an interface for a separate spider. Ideally, I'd make something with a Spidering-type of setup.
“I always find it amazing that a material can actually sell a product when it’s really the engineering that creates and dictates how well that material will behave or perform.” — Chuck Teixeira

highdraw

by highdraw

mythical wrote:Substandard? I never made such a claim. For many, myself included, Ritchey can be considered the standard. A while ago it was the Ritchey 4-Axis, now it's their C260.

For years, I rode stems from Syntace, Ritchey, Thomson, 3T, etc. In fact, Ritchey sought to collaborate or hire me but it we had different goals. I have much respect for Tom Ritchey and his team and their efforts have brought so many innovations to cycling already. However, I wanted an even stiffer and lighter stem.

Since I mainly ride a 130mm with 100mm reach bars on my road bike, I found that lighter stems lack the torsional stiffness I desire, thus I often preferred a stiffer but heavier stem. The stiffness of a Thomson Elite X4 suited me well (see Fairwheel Bikes' Stem Review to get the idea) but I wanted a stem that weighed half that. Since such a stem didn't exist, I set out to design and develop one myself.

I used the same materials, design & production processes and testing protocols available to everyone and I succeeded in my goal. What I now seek to accomplish is making the Wert stem available for a wider cycling public.

ergott wrote:Have you reconsidered your crank design to work with the current 4 bolt trend?
Briefly. My main reservation is the price of Shimano 4-bolt chainring set. There is a newer lighter Wert crankset under development that's more modular and has an interface for a separate spider. Ideally, I'd make something with a Spidering-type of setup.

Whoops, you must have forgot the question I posed so will rephrase.
What about the Ritchey WCS 4 axis stem if you don't believe to be substandard, that you believe can be improved?...since it was you who brought it up as a benchmark.
Btw, I am a mechanical engineer and you likely are as well. So a follow up question as well. Stiffness and torsional rigidity are not the be all to design integrity as you know. Fatigue life and yield strength matter as well. So there is the efficiency of stiffness and weight of course, but there is that little thing known as yield strength as well. So perhaps you can explain how you can increase stiffness and reduce weight and not diminish yield strength or resistance to breakage under load? Obvious control variables are section modulus aka geometry...wall thickness, I.D./O.D. and choice of material aka material properties.
Perhaps you can describe how you increased rigidity through geometry and material selection without the latter in particular increasing product cost if you went to much higher grade of Al for example or more expensive forging operation.

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mythical
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by mythical

Actually, I didn’t forget but did you realize what you asked? Your question came across as ‘why haven't others done the same?’ and ‘if you made this then why wouldn't I be able to as well?’ In short, my view is that anyone who understands basic engineering principles could recognize how the Wert stem design works. No problem putting them into words though.

Simply put, the secret sauce of the Wert Straight Shooter design is the increase in diameter of the main barrel for a higher torsional stiffness. By increasing this diameter less material is needed to bridge the space between barrel and bolts. The wall thickness in the middle section is about 1mm but slightly greater in the 130 and 145mm, to better cope with the increased forces a longer lever generates.

Where I make my stem design strong enough is by limiting transition angles between surfaces, peak stresses and surface tension (MPa) under two specified load cases for 100K cycles per the ISO/FDIS 4210-5:2013 4.9 test protocol, which replaces the older EN14781 and EN14766 standards.

Additionally, the design maintains sufficient material thicknesses in key areas to have minimal stress is important areas. Our stem design is even designed to fail non-catastrophically both at the end of its fatigue life and under excessive loads which a stem can get subjected to, and get a rider home safe under any circumstances.

Wert stems will be made from AL7075-T6 bar stock, just like many other bike parts, which has widely known UTS, yield strength and Wöhler/SN-curve specs. Wert stems are CNC-turned and machined because we like this particular fabrication process for its finish, precision and repeatability as well as the property of anodizing and laser-engraving the material for an high quality finish. That's as much as I find appropriate to reveal at this moment and I hope my explanation answers your question satisfactorily.
“I always find it amazing that a material can actually sell a product when it’s really the engineering that creates and dictates how well that material will behave or perform.” — Chuck Teixeira

liketoride
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by liketoride

So what would be your best guess on when this would be available for purchase? I have been waiting for awhile now and would like to know. thank you.

highdraw

by highdraw

mythical wrote:Actually, I didn’t forget but did you realize what you asked? Your question came across as ‘why haven't others done the same?’ and ‘if you made this then why wouldn't I be able to as well?’ In short, my view is that anyone who understands basic engineering principles could recognize how the Wert stem design works. No problem putting them into words though.

Simply put, the secret sauce of the Wert Straight Shooter design is the increase in diameter of the main barrel for a higher torsional stiffness. By increasing this diameter less material is needed to bridge the space between barrel and bolts. The wall thickness in the middle section is about 1mm but slightly greater in the 130 and 145mm, to better cope with the increased forces a longer lever generates.

Where I make my stem design strong enough is by limiting transition angles between surfaces, peak stresses and surface tension (MPa) under two specified load cases for 100K cycles per the ISO/FDIS 4210-5:2013 4.9 test protocol, which replaces the older EN14781 and EN14766 standards.

Additionally, the design maintains sufficient material thicknesses in key areas to have minimal stress is important areas. Our stem design is even designed to fail non-catastrophically both at the end of its fatigue life and under excessive loads which a stem can get subjected to, and get a rider home safe under any circumstances.

Wert stems will be made from AL7075-T6 bar stock, just like many other bike parts, which has widely known UTS, yield strength and Wöhler/SN-curve specs. Wert stems are CNC-turned and machined because we like this particular fabrication process for its finish, precision and repeatability as well as the property of anodizing and laser-engraving the material for an high quality finish. That's as much as I find appropriate to reveal at this moment and I hope my explanation answers your question satisfactorily.

Thank you for your response.
Can you speculate on grams saved by opting for your 120mm stem design versus a 120mm Ritchey 4 axis WCS stem?
Thanks again.

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mythical
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by mythical

highdraw wrote:Thank you for your response.
Can you speculate on grams saved by opting for your 120mm stem design versus a 120mm Ritchey 4 axis WCS stem?
Thanks again.
You're welcome. I'm not sure how much a 120mm Ritchey WCS 4-Axis stem weighs, nor did I ever weigh mine in stock spec, but I can tell you that a 8º x 120 mm Wert Straight Shooter stem will weigh about 80 grams. I'm pretty sure that'll save quite a bit of weight, maybe as much as 40-50 grams.

liketoride wrote:So what would be your best guess on when this would be available for purchase? I have been waiting for awhile now and would like to know. thank you.
At present, I cannot make any definitive statements on this. However, our manufacturers are pretty much on standby and ready to go in mere weeks.

Have you subscribed to our newsletter yet on ridewert.com? That channel is your best bet to receive an accurate answer to your question the soonest.

kevosinn wrote:Sent you a pm
PM sent in response.
“I always find it amazing that a material can actually sell a product when it’s really the engineering that creates and dictates how well that material will behave or perform.” — Chuck Teixeira

liketoride
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by liketoride

i have subscribed but i have not gotten any information from that yet. I will keep waiting then.

Broady
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by Broady

Definitely interested in a 120mm -17 stem for my upcoming Feather build, will keep an eye on here.

by Weenie


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