Hey all,
I'm having a custom lugged frame built by Nakagawa cycleworks here in Osaka Japan.
The frame is going to be full columbus spirit os with a columbus max fork with 1inch steerer, like the blue one below but in team color (pink/white)

Herein lies the dilemma. Should I go with a lightweight 1-1/8 stem with a shim or with a custom 1inch stem from steelman or donhou ?

I've had visions of having a fillet brazed stem made and leaving it raw/clear coated. Or tig welded painted to match the frame .

This will be raced elite level here in Japan.

What do you suggest ??

I think your beautiful Nagasawa calls for a steel stem, the obvious being lugged. Llewellyn here in Straylia makes lovely lugged steel stems. The ww in us however says English who'll make you a brazed steel stem that won't weigh you down.

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Less is more.

The Llewelyn stems are beautiful, but if its steel I'd prefer tig, or brazed.




Build should look like this -

dura ace 9000 shift/fr-rr mechs/cassette, sanded sram red exograms/ct2 rings, king bb, 9000 or ee/ciamillo brakes, enve 1.25/revolution/tune wheels, ax setback post, stem ? Deda bars, Pink ck headset, king ti cages. Alloy/ ti bolts throughout. Cables ?

English it'll have to be, but I don't know how long his wait-list is. I still wish I had opted for English one piece stem/steerer with bolted-on fork and 'upside-down' headset.

Lightest set-up for cables apparently is Alligator Mini I-links for gear and Aican Bungarus for brakes.

Excellent build!

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Less is more.

Any issues in getting a used steelman stem and cleaning it up, fresh paint ?

Anything to worry about with a used tig welded steel stem ??

Definitely go custom. I've got an old C40 with a 1" steerer, the modern shimmed stems always look too bulky I think.
How about a Ti 1" custom job?
Nice ride BTW, great to see the skinny tubes still going strong.
These guys list a custom version http://kishbike.com/store/product/1/

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C'est les Jambes lourdes.