Thomson X4 Elite 50mm stem,any good???

Perfectly adaquate, just ugly. (and I love Thomson kit).

Torn between Renthal 50mm stem or Thomson X4 Elite 50mm,any suggestions people??

Wasn’t there a thread on here a while back saying the Renthal stem was a bit creaky?

Easton?

I’ve got both.They both hold your handlebars.The renthal has a bit of rise and creaks.The thomson has tiny 3mm headed bolts and is a bit heavier.

I’ve got a 50mm X4 and its remarkably well made quite unlike any other stem I’ve owned. Its such a good fit on the steerer the bolts barely need tightening and the same for the bars just snug the bolts and theyre not going anywhere. Goes without saying there are no creaks or anything like that

Really nice precision bit of kit recommended

They’re both silly expensive, the Thomson’s heavy, and neither of them does anything that a Pro FRS costing £25 doesn’t do just as well.

Go with On-One’s CNC stem; cheap, stiff and light.

+1 for the Pro FRS. Well made and cheap.

Both look great, reasonable price if brought 2nd hand new/lightly used however I went for the Thomson as I saw some reports of the Renthal breaking, I prefer the look of the renthal though.

Northwind – Member
They’re both silly expensive, the Thomson’s heavy, and neither of them does anything that a Pro FRS costing £25 doesn’t do just as well.

BS the Thomson can use a gold face plate to match the rest of your finishing kit. Nice stem, like it nice and stiff

It’s Thomson innit’…
Can’t imagine using anything else.
Their stuff just works & looks good for years.

I’ll be selling a 50mm Thomson stem as of Saturday. I prefer a 70mm stem, so 50mm is up for sale. Email me at mikedonald@hotmaildotcom for more info.

Thanks.

That Pro FRS has looks only a mother could love. I got one as I needed a cheap, light, short stem for my winter bike & that’s all I could find.

It’s so ugly I couldn’t even bring myself to put it on the bike.

Raceface Turdine!

mikewsmith – Member

BS the Thomson can use a gold face plate to match the rest of your finishing kit.

Til it cracks down the middle, to match my mangled frames.

Thomson X4 is a thing of beauty. Better made than anything else on the market. It might cost £60 but you’ll easily get £40 if/when you ever decide to sell it. You can buy replacement face plates too. Fair enough the 3mm bolts can be a pain if you leave them but an upgraded bigger bolt will sort this out.

The Renthal is nicely made but somewhat flexy, and a pain if you need to work on your cockpit in a hurry, say at a race.

My 50mm Thomson stem is my favourite bit of the bike it’s on. It’s just perfection.
If it wasn’t on a bike I’d wear it round my neck on a chain so it’s always close to my heart.

Til it cracks down the middle, to match my
mangled frames.

A sure sign that you’re over tightening it!

I use a Renthal and it is neither flexy or creaky. Just need to install it as advised in the instructions and grease the bolts.

Easton Haven would be my pick. Looks lovely and has a smart clamping system where you do the top two bolts all the way up and then just tighten up the bottom two as appropriate.

twohats – Member

A sure sign that you’re over tightening it!

You should tell Thomson they’re wrong- they say it’s just perfectly normal for a faceplate to fatigue and crack in use, and they should be considered consumables.

The rest of the industry doesn’t seem to have quite caught up with this top-quality approach, they all think faceplates shouldn’t crack… losers 😉

do they actually say that? did they say that to you?

It hasn’t happened to me, but yes that is their warranty response- replacement faceplate, and “perfectly normal”.

(only issue I had with my Thomson stem was that the 4nm maximum torque wasn’t enough to hold the bars in place. It was nice otherwise)

I got a 12 year old faceplate you can have if yourn has cracked.

It hasn’t happened to me, but yes that is their warranty response- replacement faceplate, and “perfectly normal”.

(only issue I had with my Thomson stem was that the 4nm maximum torque wasn’t enough to hold the bars in place. It was nice otherwise)

Very surprised to hear that. My Thomson X4 is 4 years old, has been on 4 bikes including a DH bike frequently used at Fort William. On my current bike, which also get’s hammered (and crashed sometimes!) I fitted it, torqued the bolts evenly with a good quality torque wrench and haven’t touched it since. It is my fourth Thomson stem and second X4 and I have never had bars move or seen a broken faceplate.

Seems to me to be a top quality piece of kit that will last for years and years but like most things care is needed during initial fitting.

They don’t always cost loads, my latest one was brand new on offer for £44.99.

Renthal one does look nice though and if it’s of similar quality to their bars you won’t go far wrong.

I guess the risk, due to the strong second hand market for Thomson stems, is that you’ll buy one whose owner was a bit overzealous with tightening.
I’ve got 3 stems of varying ages – all bought second hand – and have had no problems with faceplates.
But there’s no smoke without fire….

Straitline 50mm FTW. Strong, stiff, light, wide clamp, low stack height, looks good.

Syntace Megaforce 2. About £50 on EBay, Ti bolts standard, lighter than Easton, Thomson, Raceface or Renthal. Tested for DH with 800mm bars. Includes top cap.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Syntace-Megaforce-2-Stem-50mm-96d-Black-/370952074492?pt=US_Stems&hash=item565e7774fc

Oh god! I’ve been checking my lynskey frame for cracks every half hour (due to scaremongering on a recent thread), and now I have to check my Thomson faceplate too! I fear I may never ride my bike again..

honourablegeorge – Member

Syntace Megaforce 2. About £50 on EBay, Ti bolts standard, lighter than Easton, Thomson, Raceface or Renthal. Tested for DH with 800mm bars. Includes top cap.

After learning the hard way with the Easton Haven I’ll not be scrimping or gram counting in the stem department again. The 60 grams or so difference between it and the Thomson are hardly a big amount but one is almost comically flexy, the other as stiff as you could ever want.

After learning the hard way with the Easton Haven I’ll not be scrimping or gram counting in the stem department again. The 60 grams or so difference between it and the Thomson are hardly a big amount but one is almost comically flexy, the other as stiff as you could ever want.

That Syntace is likely to be stiff, though, especially given their unique-to-SyntaceDH tests…

I’ve got two straitline 50mm stems, both lovely and come in a rainbowsmorg of colours.