2, Deda Superleggera
Another brand from Italy. The high-end products of Deda are not common in China, but there are a lot of Zero 100, since there are too many OEM products. Superleggera is one of their high-end production lines, including bar, stem and seatpost.
Superleggera is actually very light weight if you don’t take those super light and super expensive products in consideration. The 110 mm one is only 109.5 g on my scale. The angle labelled on the stem is a bit special, 82°, which is effective to 8°, and it offers 80~140 mm.
3,UNO7
The cheapest stem on our list, whose price is only a fraction of those big brands’ high-end products. I used an UNO stem on my S-works Tarmac SL4 when I was a student due to its price. However, I ditched it since its low stiffness. There are UNO 6 and 7, and the later one is better.
UNO 7 offers 7° and 17°, 60~130 mm length. The 110 mm one is only 111 g on my scale, only 2 g heavier than Deda Superleggera. OK it’s 1.7 g to be honest. I have to mention that these are steel bolts. You can spend one or two dozen of dollars to shave down another 8~12 grams with 6 (hollow) Ti bolts, which nearly double the price.
4, FSA OS99 (Energy)
The next one comes from the old big brand FSA, Full Speed Ahead. The top-end OS99 is updated to OS99-CSI now, which has a carbon reinforcement layer. The tested stem is OS99 alloy version, which is now the Energy series.
OS99 has a simple design and only offers 6°, 80~130mm. The reason for its name OS99 is due to the weight. I forgot whether it was the 80 mm one or the 90 mm one to be 99 g. Its weight is on the average level, as it aims at the balance of both stiffness and the weight, and there are still quite a few Pros using this stem in the big tour, indicating that they are satisfied with the performance of it. This Energy series OS99 is 133 g on my scale.
Another big brand from Italy, 3T. OK nearly half of the tested stems come from Italia. Similar to FSA, you can see quite a lot 3T products in the big tour and they sponsor several teams. I have to say that 3T Ergonova drop bar is still being copied by the Chinese factory, and its shape is used for reference by some other brands: the “unique” bending and 77 mm reach.
ARX stems are also very classic and the carbon version, ARX LTD, has been copied to be an open mould. ARX2 is the second generation, which has a different set of bolts, and have two different production lines: white logo Pro level and red logo Team level. ARX2 team is one of the most used stems of Pros.
One of its issue is the T30 M6 bolt, which is used to locking itself on the steerer. Some mini torque tool sets don’t include this T30 bit.
ARX2 Team offers 6° and 17°, 80~140 mm length. The weight is also on the average level. The 110 mm is 140 g on my scale.
6, Pro Vibe Alloy
Pro is a brand in Netherland under Shimano Group and some people still call it Shimano. Another popular product in the big tour. Pro has Vibe Track and Vibe Sprint for those who need an extremely stiff stem. The carbon version is released in 2019, but most riders is still using the alloy version.
You can also choose OD2 version of it, and it offers -10° and -17°, 80~130 mm length. However, the 130 mm one seems not to be imported into China and I couldn’t order it in the Shimano system. Maybe it needs a special order.
You can not mount it in a positive angle since it uses a special top cap, and you need a special spacer if your steerer is too long, which is not elegant. The bolts of the stem cover are mounted from the backside. Some torque wrench may be too large to deal with them.
The 110 mm is 150 g on my scale, and you have to use its heavy top cap. The OD2 version is several grams heavier.
7, Zipp Service Course SL
The rival of Shimano on the other side of the Pacific —— SRAM. Note that Zipp is now under SRAM.
The style of this generation Service Course is different from the last version, sturdier. There are two different lines, SL and normal one.
Service Course SL offers 6° and 17° and also OD2 version. The longest is 150 mm but is hard to get.
The 110 mm one is 159g on my scale. Emm… It’s the heaviest one in this test, though it is called SL. It is really Zipp style —— The weight is always the last to be considered. One Service Course SL is almost twice the weight of the Hyperstem road.
