Titanium Stem Bolts - Good it Bad

wilkij1975
wilkij1975 Posts: 532
in Workshop
I’m sorry if this has been done to death but I’ve just bought a new ste, Fizik R1, with Ti bolts. I remember seeing that Ti bolts aren’t good for stems and other high stress areas despite me thinking they were as strong if not stronger than steel?

So are they ok? I’m asking as I’m a heavy rider at 110kg and want to be safe. I don’t care about any weight savings they give being as big as I am and didn’t buy the stem for the bolts do have no issues with swapping them out for slightly heavier steel.

Cheers
Carbon 456

Comments

  • Darius_Jedburgh
    Darius_Jedburgh Posts: 675
    I've been using them for years. No problems at all. Best of all they don't rust.
  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    edited May 2020
    Titanium is a softer metal than steel so it's easier to chew up the Allen heads with sh1te tools. That's all.
    Ben

    Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
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  • wilkij1975
    wilkij1975 Posts: 532
    Cheers for the replies. I wouldn’t have thought there would be issues or why would manufacturers use them? I just remember seeing some negatives back in the day.
    Carbon 456
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    If it came with them yeah.

    Replacing ? Not worth it.
  • step83
    step83 Posts: 4,170
    If it came with Ti bolts its fine, on my stem I swapped out to Ti bolts and washers. Main issue is the grade of Ti, grade I have is pretty tough, stronger than alloy not quite as strong as steel so you could stretch them if over torqued.

    End of the day the bolt weight is not going to be a major thing I just did mine as I had access to them and they looked nicer (black bolts, rainbow washers)
    Titanium Px Spitfire
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  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    It's worth linking this thread here, I think: https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/12667715/titanium-hex-bolt-problem#latest
    Ben

    Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
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  • johnnyfartpants
    johnnyfartpants Posts: 566
    Darius_Jedburgh said:

    I've been using them for years. No problems at all. Best of all they don't rust.

    No rust issues :) , I have titanium bolts on my Pro stem.......I'm 88Kg's - all good after 5 years or so.
  • the_cyclist_of_catan
    the_cyclist_of_catan Posts: 354
    Used Ti bolts for the last 5 years or so, and I have form for over tightening bolts (my speciality is cranking up seattube clamps to the point where the bolt shears; it’s a good job I don’t run carbon bars or seatposts).

    I have no problems with them at all. But then, I also use bolts with torx t25 heads, so there’s little to no risk of them rounding off.
    They use their cars as shopping baskets; they use their cars as overcoats.

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