Lightest Long Road Stem

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KWalker
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by KWalker

130mm-140mm options seem very, very slim. The lightest I've found is Kalloy, which really isn't lighter than an ARXII Team.
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mythical
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by mythical

And how much are those supposed to weigh in your desired length(s)? My 130mm stem weighs about 85 grams and is amply stiff.
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KWalker
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by KWalker

Sure, but can I buy one and have it on my bike in the next week? If so sign me up.

Light would be anything sub 120 or worth spending $ to replace a standard stem on. The Kalloy barely saves any weight over a 3T, but your stem would be a 50g savings and perhaps worth it. I'd need a -6 or thereabouts unfortunately
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russianbear
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by russianbear

You might find the Kalloy Uno to be too flexy.

Ritchey 260 could be another way to go, it's lighter than the 3T and you can drop additional weight by switching to Ti hardware.
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NiFTY
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by NiFTY

If after the lightest, ax lightness make 130mm in +/-6. It ain't gonna be cheap though.
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mrlobber
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by mrlobber

3T Arx at 130mm length is 130+ g.
Kalloy is 120 g (I have both of these; in fact, several Uno's I've used, they're all around 120g).

I don't believe Ritchey 260 is sub 130g, given that they themselves quote 100mm @ 100g, and every 10mm's usually add approx 10 grams above that.

Kwalker, if you want significantly lighter, I don't think you have many options other than going exotic routes.

mythical wrote:And how much are those supposed to weigh in your desired length(s)? My 130mm stem weighs about 85 grams and is amply stiff.


I would buy Wert's stem in a heartbeat, but I don't think that's practically possible? :D
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mythical
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by mythical

Not yet anyway, but thanks for the votes of confidence! :D

Currently, our focus is on completing our 3D-printed titanium cranks, which happened to pop up in the past few months. That put stem production on a lower priority, though not completely on the backburner.
“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

KWalker
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by KWalker

Can you produce just a single stem? Surely this is possible?
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mythical
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by mythical

Yes, indeed it is. It's really about controlling all the processes. We sorted out machining and bolt manufacturing and the first planned stems in series of several hundreds can be machined in the relatively short time span of a few weeks.

The biggest bottleneck in terms of delivery times are actually the bolts. In bigger quantities, and we're talking several thousands, estimated delivery is around 10-12 weeks. Fortunately, we currently have a decent amount of bolts at hand for e.g. several stems that each use 6 bolts. Then there's still the matter of finalizing the order for the specialty production tooling, which we haven't gotten around to yet. The special tooling can be made relatively quickly and isn't that costly. We're talking delivery in about 2-3 weeks tops, but it also depends on what type of tooling the lathes that'll do the machining can accept . The company who's gonna CNC-machine our stems would have it well in time anyway.

Lastly, but not unimportantly, is anodizing. We tried at least 4 different anodizing companies and, although some certainly had a very nice finish, none of them were satisfactory for the product we have in mind. We thought we had a good match but the finish still isn't up to the level we wish to offer. This is a premium product so it at least has to have a finish as good as, or even better than (is that even possible?), Chris King.

Had we been located in the US, we know exactly where to have our anodizing done. However, since we're in Europe, it's not feasible to send large production series overseas just for anodizing. That's just inviting Murphy's law into action. Right now, we're looking to source it in either Switzerland or Germany, because none of the Dutch anodizers are sufficiently to our liking. It'll be worth it for the customer.
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darnellrm
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by darnellrm

I'm beginning to think that these stems will always be "mythical".....

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mythical
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by mythical

It doesn't matter what you think. What have you come up with?
“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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mrgray
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by mrgray

hi Mythical. just checked out the website. when did the incrowd funding thing begin? also i couldn't see where the total was at relative to the goal. just wondering if there is still time left to get involved.
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darnellrm
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by darnellrm

mythical wrote:It doesn't matter what you think. What have you come up with?


I can guarantee you I am not the only one that feels that way. Focus on a product and get something to market. You are losing credibility.

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mythical
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by mythical

Thank you for your concern, we're doing our best. Also, I don't think I was given much credibility to begin with. :lol:

mrgray wrote:hi Mythical. just checked out the website. when did the incrowd funding thing begin? also i couldn't see where the total was at relative to the goal. just wondering if there is still time left to get involved.
Good point. Incrowdfunding ends on June 17th 2016 at midnight CET. We didn't promote it at all, so the goal that makes visible the percentage hasn't been reached yet. Wert Cycling can always use more backers! :wink:

We had a countdown counter on our to-do list, and now our web programmer has begun addressing the issue ASAP. I'll PM you when it's up.
“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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russianbear
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by russianbear

mythical wrote:It doesn't matter what you think. What have you come up with?


As far as end user goes, he has come up with just as much as you.

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