Weight Weenies

I recently built my bike with a Deda Zero 100 Servizio Corse stem. Standard, good quality allen keys seemed a poor fit in the bolt heads and one of them came close to rounding at around 4Nm.

I'm now on the hunt for nice SS bolts to substitute, but have to say I'm pretty underwhelmed. I've worked on other bikes with Deda stuff and don't remember a particular issue.

Oh, and before anyone impugns my mechanical abilities, know that I'm a shop mechanic and I've built a lot of bikes.

Yeah the bolts on that stem really are that bad.

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I've had a few and never had a problem. Just adding my data point.

Sure, some bolts are stubborn. Anyway, in all my years with the various Deda products that passed my hands, I never experienced a single bolt failure. When a bolt and tool didn't fit properly, I usually forced the tool into an angle after insertion not to damage the bolt. That always did the trick. My most commonly used tool was a Park Tool Y-wrench. Alternatively, you can fit a Torx T25 into a 4mm Allen bolt and, if it's rounded, perhaps a T27. Didn't I wrench on your Deda as well, Eric?

One of.

Had a bolt on a Deda stem snap recently before it got to 5Nm (yes, I was using a torque wrench!).

Substitute Ti bolts from Pro-Bolt and you will never have a problem.
Rolled rather than cut threads and better quality control.

Nice anodize colors also.

I buy my bolt from Ti-bolts U.K.

Dedas bartape snaps too...

To be honest I'd be as happy or happier replacing the bolts with good quality stainless steel. I'm having trouble finding such a thing though - can anyone point me to a reasonably priced source? Pro-Bolt mentioned above lists nice tapered head ones but they are absurdly expensive. Paying over £3 per bolt for steel seems mad.

eBay?
The bolts are fairly standard, no? I might be mistaken, but from experience swapping bolts on an ol' Zero 100 stem it certainly seemed to be the case.
Most stems use the same size bolts.

It's easy enough to buy bog standard socket cap bolts but nice ones with slimmer or tapered heads are harder to come by. And I'm trying to avoid anything claiming to be bike specific since that always inflates the price.

I have hundreds of stainless bolts. DJ Evens in Bury St Edmunds has a warehouse full but I am lazy and get mine from bike part distributors. My last lot came from fishers.

Yes. I broke a few with absolutely correct torque (digital torque wrench)

I broke quite a few bolts on 3T stems. I even went and bought a new torque wrench think I must have gone out of calibration, and they continued to break. A properly made Ti bolt should be as strong or stronger than steel, so I suspect some poor material in the supply line somewhere.
That is why certified material bolts with rolled treads and quality inspection costs more. It seems expensive until you figure the cost of breakage.
Of course the same could be said of everything, and I am riding a cheap asian frame, so we all assess our own cost/risk tolerance.

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i bought the deda zero and swapped out the bolts with Ti ones from pro-bolt. cheaper overall and never had any issues.