Which Stem, Giant Contact SLR or Ritchey Superlogic C260

indyjones

Hi all,

I am after a stem that has more of a secure wrap around for my Carbon 3T ergonovas.
Currently I have the Giant Contact stem on my Giant defy advance, although that marked my previous bars.
As I am stuck with the annoying overdrive 2 steerer dia (1 1/4") I don't have a lot of options. I have either the https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/ge ... 572/62017/ Giant SLR one which claims a "huge" 46mm clamping area??

Or the Ritchey Superlogic http://ritcheylogic.com/road/stems/supe ... -stem.html which clearly has a better wrap.

The pros and cons are that the Giant one keeps original geometry (8º) although the Ritchey at 6º I guess is not much different, just a spacer drop... The Ritchey one is slightly cheaper? Plus there is a alu one when i find my sensible head with the same clamp design.

If anybody has any experience with either (or an alternative) it will be much appreciated

dj58

I like Ritchey products myself, however I'm not a fan of that particular stem design, so if I were choosing between those two it would be the Giant stem, although they would both suffice. Buy the one you prefer the look of.

http://ritcheylogic.com/road/stems/wcs- ... -stem.html This has a 44mm wide face plate.

indyjones

DJ58 wrote:

I like Ritchey products myself, however I'm not a fan of that particular stem design, so if I were choosing between those two it would be the Giant stem, although they would both suffice. Buy the one you prefer the look of.

http://ritcheylogic.com/road/stems/wcs- ... -stem.html This has a 44mm wide face plate.

hmmm okay thanks, so is the size of the faceplate more important than the wrap angle ?

dj58

indyjones wrote:

hmmm okay thanks, so is the size of the faceplate more important than the wrap angle ?

Not sure to be honest, as you say the Ritchey C260 design clamp is supposed to offer

"a bar clamp that wraps a full 260 degrees around the handlebar to distribute clamping stress more evenly through the handlebar, faceplate, hardware and stem body. The steer tube clamp uses three bolts and a curved slot to reduce clamp stress on the steer tube."

So probably is a good choice for use with a carbon steerer tube and bars. I can't see an alloy version with the C260 clamp and 1-1/4" steerer compatibility on the Ritchey website.

indyjones

Thank you, the Giant one I assume is built for carbon bars and stems but does not look as friendly.... Am I right in my assumption that 2 º is going to make hardly any difference?

dj58

I don't think you would have a problem if you chose the Giant stem, it has the more usual clamp design though is designed to be used with carbon bars. If you can order the stem from somewhere that does free returns, order both of them and do a careful trial fit then keep the one you prefer and send the other back for a refund.

If you are using your stem in the negative (down position), then the bars will be a tad lower, however I wouldn't have thought that a 2 deg. difference with the Ritchey stem would be a big problem to adapt to.

indyjones

Thanks DJ58, I am using the stem downwards, but at the top of the spacer stack, so I could drop the ritchey to get the same reach. Decisions time...

Wheelspinner

Only problem with the Ritchey ones is you have to take off shifters and tape to fit them, which is a right pain. Plus the one I bought (WCS version) has face plate bolts which are extra small, 3mm Allen key heads instead of the usual 4mm, and quite soft I found.

I like Ritchey stuff, have loads, but this design IMO is more trouble than it's worth

indyjones

Thank you, yeah I thought that so decided to order the Giant one. Hopefully it will be okay