something light and sexy and black.

Like lingerie but metal.

I’m thinking Easton Haven…

or RF Turbine…

or maybe even syncros…

any others to ponder…

Thomson X4.

hope 70mm

I’ve had a RF Turbine for a few months now and it really is a thing of beauty. Light (about 115g iirc), stiff, beautifully machined and, best of all, it was only £38 from probikeshop.fr. I’ve had a Thomson too and it was alright: functionally no different to the RF, just heavier and more ‘utilitarian’ imo.

I’d say Thomson too, although those Haves are nice.

You do realise you have to match your seatpost to the stem – unless you’ve got a dropper that is

defineately easton

Or black & bling

Tarty…? How very dare you, Easton Haven here, feels lurvly

I neeeeeeeeeeed that Haven stem!!

I really like my Sunline AM stem but that would look lovely with my Haven bars.

I also have the haven albeit in a 55mm. Light, stiff and looks pimp; what more could you want. The black with the silver facia also goes well with the renthal fat bar.

yep, didn’t nmention Thomson as they just don’t do it for me I’m afraid, and Hope just isn’t … handsome enough.

Nearly but not quite;

Oooh, that Haven is lovely. I really shouldn’t have a wishlist with the state of my finances at the mo’ but what the heck 8)

I have had (and liked) a Hope stem and wouldn’t mind one again. However isn’t it about time that Hope maybe (wait for the flaming by the “yr a fashion tart” brigade) looked at maybe just making their stem just a little bit sleeker? Just my personal opinion. I really like the look of the Haven and it isn’t a million miles from the Hope, just a little smoother/less chunky. Do Hope machine from billet or CNC from a near net forged blank? If the former it may be that strength is an issue (I understand forging forces the crystals into a single desirable grain that aids strength). I’m sure someone will correct all of the mistakes I have made herein.

Haven is the one

Haven is the one

I think you may be right…

Thomson all the way. Although not with any guff looking gold panels.

That Hope stem would be nice if it didn’t have all those crappy looking graphics on it, makes it look well cheap.

Easton Haven for sure 🙂

I have owned 6 different Thomson stems (2 x Elite and 4 x X4)

more recently I have owned the Haven stem and the Renthal Duo stem, I still use the haven with Renthal 750mm bars on my mountain bike

the Haven is noticeably more ‘solid’ than the X4 when really cranking on the bars, especially with wider bars (i.e. 750mm+) yet comes in lighter too

before moving to wider bars, I never had any issue with the Thomson stem feeling flexible

when you look at the Haven, its a blatant rip-off of the Thomson X4 stem, but with a wider bar clamp, wider body and Easton’s Top-Lock clamp technology

My brakes made a right mess of easton haven carbon decals, all the lettering came away, anyone else?

I recently picked up a point one racing stem second hand (off here) and would recommend it. Very solid as the width of the clamps is wider than the Thomson but it’s very expensive and though I like the fact that it has no top cap, it means you cannot leave any steerer with spacers above the stem.

NO! don’t put gold things on your bike, makes you crash into walls.

Shame you dont need a 50mm i got a brand new renthal duo which is supet smart looking but cannot use as its to short 🙁

Love the haven except for the contrasting face plate. If they did all black I’d have one tomorrow. Luckily my Thomson is a good match for my haven bars. Tart? Hell yes. The easton looks like they bought the market leader Thomson and figured out only way to improve it was to lose a bit of weight and polish out the tooling marks which Thomson (and Hope) leave in for that low production run Factory look.

Haven stem here with the carbon haven bar. Light & strong and looks bling!

I had the magnesium bodied stem delivered by accident which was very nice but preferred and swapped for the black one to match with the bars

picture is the 70mm btw

If that’s the same colour as the Haven silvery bars it definitely looks pretty bling. They’re a sort of chromey silver, difficult to explain and it doesn’t come across in pictures.

Having said that, I think Thompson stems look nicer. Understated, not chintzy like the Easton 😉

Haven looks like an ugly Thomson ripoff. Dunno why other comapnies bother to make stems, to be honest. Just get a Thomson,

I’ve just sold my Thomson for a Haven. The Thomson is a bit of a boat anchor in comparison to a lot of others these days.

honourable, if you’ve seen it in the flesh the haven looks like a tidied up thomson, not sure how its uglier than the haven as its just highly polished rather than showing machine marks.

It is noticeably lighter than the thomson, so much so I was sceptical it was an “AM” stem, its lighter than my road bike stem.

I have thomsons on both my bikes, with the Haven imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but theyve managed to squeeze some improvements out of it. The new RF turbine looks like a rip off of the Haven.

I don’t want a Thomson not because I think it’s a bad stem, or not even becuase it might be a bit heavy.

It’s just that I’ve had Thomsons before (and they are everywhere) and I want something different. I have one on my commuter and it’s fine – and you can get Hope Vision clamps for them, which is handy.

I’m wanting one http://www.dirtydogmtb.com/stem1.html 8)

Have a look at the easton havoc in orange.

what’s the word…..