Carbon Stems

indyjones

Hi all,

So looking to spend my xmas cash on a nice new stem.

I have bought myself some nice new 3T Ergonova Ltd handlebars and want to get the appropriate stem. The one that seems best for me is the 6º 3T Arx stem. The problem is I am not sure if I should just get the Aluminium Team stem or go nuts and spend £130 on the Carbon Ltd....... (Team is less than half that price).

Will I actually notice?

It's going on my Giant Defy Composite, so it is to fit onto a carbon steerer.

Cheers and Merry Christmas.

cycleclinic

I doubt you would notice the difference if say you were blindfolded and tested both back to back but then again such a test would not end well but you get my point. Carbon stem may be stiffer but I have yet to find a threadless aluminum alloy stem that is not stiff.

mitchgixer6

I haven't tried the carbon version but I can guarantee the only real difference is in the look. Don't even think there's much in it in the weight difference.

If it was me I'd buy the team and use the rest of the cash for something else.

indyjones

Thanks for the advice.

ugo.santalucia

I second the previous advice... there is nothing to gain in wasting money on a stem... it's a glorified length of pipe. I have once seen a Zipp one that came in a wood box with padding inside, very much like the boxes you get with jewels... pathetic

smoggysteve

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I second the previous advice... there is nothing to gain in wasting money on a stem... it's a glorified length of pipe. I have once seen a Zipp one that came in a wood box with padding inside, very much like the boxes you get with jewels... pathetic

+1

Just how much flex can you get in 120cm of metal to make you need a carbon?

Bozman

I've got the 3T Ergosum team bars matched with the arx team stem.
Personally I'd say that the alloy stem looks better than the carbon stem, it's roughly the same weight and from past experience I'd say that the carbon stem won't be any stiffer than the alloy one.
Save your money.

napoleond

I think the carbon 3T stem looks pants, the alloy one looks much more elegant.

bendertherobot

They add nothing. But, some of them do look lush. The 3T does not. But others do.

Sometimes lushness is an acceptable reason to buy stuff.

giant_man

no point spending money on carbon stem or handlebars, waste of money ....

markynulty

I had a couple of crashes in races last year which bent my alloy Deda bars. I think that the forces involved in these could easily have snapped carbon bars / stem. That would have been race over instead of finishing in a bloody mess ;-)

dennisn

markynulty wrote:

I had a couple of crashes in races last year which bent my alloy Deda bars. I think that the forces involved in these could easily have snapped carbon bars / stem. That would have been race over instead of finishing in a bloody mess ;-)

First off, your "thinking" that you might have broken the carbon ones isn't quite the same as actually breaking a pair.
Secondly, "finishing in a bloody mess" generally means that it was "race over" when you crashed.

markynulty

dennisn wrote:

markynulty wrote:

I had a couple of crashes in races last year which bent my alloy Deda bars. I think that the forces involved in these could easily have snapped carbon bars / stem. That would have been race over instead of finishing in a bloody mess ;-)

First off, your "thinking" that you might have broken the carbon ones isn't quite the same as actually breaking a pair.
Secondly, "finishing in a bloody mess" generally means that it was "race over" when you crashed.

You are right on the first point, I am only thinking that carbon bars would have been done for, but I did have to bend the bars back in the vice...

It was race over; crashed from the lead and finished last in one race, but at least I finished and that made the pain a little less

denniskwok

markynulty wrote:

dennisn wrote:

markynulty wrote:

I had a couple of crashes in races last year which bent my alloy Deda bars. I think that the forces involved in these could easily have snapped carbon bars / stem. That would have been race over instead of finishing in a bloody mess ;-)

First off, your "thinking" that you might have broken the carbon ones isn't quite the same as actually breaking a pair.
Secondly, "finishing in a bloody mess" generally means that it was "race over" when you crashed.

You are right on the first point, I am only thinking that carbon bars would have been done for, but I did have to bend the bars back in the vice...

It was race over; crashed from the lead and finished last in one race, but at least I finished and that made the pain a little less

It's quite probable that carbon bars will have survived better than your aluminium ones. Are you really riding around on your bent alu bars after straightening them out again? :shock:

markynulty

denniskwok wrote:

markynulty wrote:

dennisn wrote:

markynulty wrote:

I had a couple of crashes in races last year which bent my alloy Deda bars. I think that the forces involved in these could easily have snapped carbon bars / stem. That would have been race over instead of finishing in a bloody mess ;-)

First off, your "thinking" that you might have broken the carbon ones isn't quite the same as actually breaking a pair.
Secondly, "finishing in a bloody mess" generally means that it was "race over" when you crashed.

You are right on the first point, I am only thinking that carbon bars would have been done for, but I did have to bend the bars back in the vice...

It was race over; crashed from the lead and finished last in one race, but at least I finished and that made the pain a little less

It's quite probable that carbon bars will have survived better than your aluminium ones. Are you really riding around on your bent alu bars after straightening them out again? :shock:

No, I bent them again in another incident and so decided to replace them

Monty Dog

denniskwok wrote:

It's quite probable that carbon bars will have survived better than your aluminium ones. Are you really riding around on your bent alu bars after straightening them out again? :shock:

Not in my experience - every bad crash I've seen with carbon bars resulted in them breaking. A lot of pros continue to ride alloy bars on the basis that whilst they might bend, you might be able to ride on until your receive service.

denniskwok

markynulty wrote:

No, I bent them again in another incident and so decided to replace them

Defo got your moneys worth out of them then. Glad they didn't fail on you completely while riding as that could have been very messy.

indyjones

Thanks again, will get the Alu team one!

Grill

There is 7g difference between the ARX LTD and Team, and most of that probably comes from the painted stripe on the Team. Save your money.

rolf_f

Grill wrote:

There is 7g difference between the ARX LTD and Team, and most of that probably comes from the painted stripe on the Team. Save your money.

I was looking at these - I think the carbon is 118 grams and the alloy 120g so not even 7g difference! Particularly when the Deda Superleggero alloy stem weighs 99g and only costs about £20 more than the ARX. Really one reason why I gave up on 3T - if you want the Ltd bars, you don't have a matching, reasonably priced non carbon stem available. Very silly.

TOM14S

You lot are all focused on weight and durability after a crash but the main advantage with carbon stems / handlebars is the supposed vibration damping they offer. I didn't think I'd notice a difference but I do. Handlebars can also be more ergonomically designed/shaped.

Anonymous

Are the Ltd bars carbon? If so I would say get the carbon stem.

cougie

I like carbon. I dont like it for bars or stems though.

markynulty

TOM14S wrote:

You lot are all focused on weight and durability after a crash but the main advantage with carbon stems / handlebars is the supposed vibration damping they offer. I didn't think I'd notice a difference but I do. Handlebars can also be more ergonomically designed/shaped.

Even with a carbon frame? I would have thought that any road vibration would have been absorbed by the time it reached the bars.

Anonymous

cougie wrote:

I like carbon. I dont like it for bars or stems though.

Kind of feel the same, but if i got carbon bars I would get a carbon stem.
Would seem odd to connect a carbon steerer to carbon bars with an aluminium stem.

I would get the Team of both and spend the cash elsewhere......................... maybe some carbon spoked wheels :P

TOM14S

You're fine with frames, forks, steerers, seatposts,wheels to be made of carbon but not stem or handlebars... I... Sigh

A carbon frame doesn't make the bike float the bars still input feedback from the road into the rider. Better bars, stem should be like adding an additional damper.

neeb

A well designed product is made out of the best material for the purpose - there is simply no benefit whatsoever in making a stem out of carbon. There are no weight savings and I simply don't believe that any reasonably well-designed stem is doing to feel different from any other, any slight flex is going to be completely insignificant compared to the flex in the bars. Carbon bars are a bit different - although the stiffest bars tend to be alloy these are pretty heavy, while with lighter weight bars it seems that the best carbon ones can be stiffer for the same weight, or a bit lighter for the same stiffness. The 3T ones are very good - I think I saw an article in Tour magazine where they tested significantly stiffer than other carbon bars. I do also think that carbon bars feel a little different - something to do with the frequency at which they vibrate or the degree of non-linearity in the progression of the flex. Not necessarily better, but different.

bendertherobot

The answer is, of course, buy what you like or want.

Carbon stems are probably ultimately pointless. But also, in most cases, no worse.

So, if there was a nice colour way, it matched, was the right size and cheap, then it would be a no brainer.

Like this one:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_230508

adamfo

I can't see how a carbon wrapped alloy stem is anything but cosmetic. Having a stem made entirely of carbon could be a different matter. For example:

http://www.eastoncycling.com/en-us/road ... ce/ec90-sl

http://ritcheylogic.com/road/stems/supe ... -stem.html

Switching to an Easton carbon bar stopped the numb finger ends I was getting on rough roads. It also flexes more than the alloy Cannondale OE one so wouldn't be the choice of a muscular sprinter but great for me.

rolf_f

Carbonator wrote:

Are the Ltd bars carbon? If so I would say get the carbon stem.

Why would you do that? They cost about £200 instead of about £70 for the ARX. They weigh 2 grams less than the alloy version and are apparently no stronger. So why on earth would you buy them aside that they match the bars better? And that's a hell of cost to make them match.

As for this thing about not wanting to use an alloy stem with a carbon bar - that makes no sense. Deda don't even bother with a carbon stem for the Superleggera bars and why not since they can make an alloy stem lighter lighter than most carbon ones for less money?

There are good reasons to get carbon bars but there don't appear to be any good reasons to get carbon stems.

ugo.santalucia

Rolf F wrote:

There are good reasons to get carbon bars but there don't appear to be any good reasons to get carbon stems.

As I said, the Zipp one comes in a wooden box with foam padding, silica gel, booklet with shiny anti counterfeit seal and everything... if that's not a good reason, I don't know what is....