[Closed] titanium stems

Hi, I have an Ibis titanium stem. I'd be lying if I said that I can notice any ride difference over a normal stem but it is a work of art. It's for sale; 120mm long, 1 1/8" steerer, standard 25.4mm bar clamp with, I think, 8 degrees of rise.

It is something that has never appealed to me one bit, and I sort of think Ti bikes with Ti seat posts and stems look a bit Sh1t. I always think a bit of black shows off the frame better.

However, and just a thought, is there any noticeable flex in a Ti stem? If so this would seem like a big drawback. May be they are too short to provide and detectable flex.

i love the ti colour, light weight parts help too !
my curent hardtail is around 23lb but can go lighter
my thomson is around 185gram, ti van nicholas 80gram
cranks 900 gram can get to 550gram

edd had your stem been 90/100mm id be interested

edd...

Interested in the Ibis stem, drop me an email and we can talk 🙂

It is something that has never appealed to me one bit, and I sort of think Ti bikes with Ti seat posts and stems look a bit Sh1t. I always think a bit of black shows off the frame better.

Odd, I have a Ti seatpost that looks good then ,

[img] [/img]

Does that seatpost not say Scandium on it? Where's the titanium?

That definitely a scandium KCNC seat post.

LOL self-pwned.

Indeed, ti bolts, but that's about it, and they don't look good, KCNC products look cheap IMO! Nice though.

Is the Van Nic stem really 80g? I can find a review of it on Road.cc which says so, and says it has alu bolts, which is a little scary, but that would make it more or less the lightest stem on the market, which I don't believe it is.

Edit: I definitely don't believe it, their bar ends and seatposts are heavy, no way is that stem 80g.

I find many 200g alu stems too flexy, WTF must an 80g Ti one feel like? 😯

Can you guys really feel flex in your stems 😯

Can you guys really feel flex in your stems

I have never noticed flex in a stem, but I have noticed a stem being stiffer than another....

Odd, I have a Ti seatpost that looks good then

Does that seatpost not say Scandium on it? Where's the titanium?

😆 LMFAO Brilliant, love it, what a div !!

I have always used Seven Ti stems. Partly just as a finishing touch to a Seven frame, but also because you can specify length, rise etc. This is a big plus, particularly for the road as it used to be difficult to get a zero degree rise road stem, although they are now more common. There are very few materials or manufacturers offering a custom stem other than in Ti.

In something less than 120mm long, flex just isn't an issue. By the time you factor in the steerer and bar clamp, the tubing length is less than 90mm. I would challenge anybody to actually notice the flex in a stem that short, particularly with an oversized bar.

I have always used Thomson seatposts because unless you need the flex of a titanium post, there is nothing better annd stronger out there, and agree with a previous author that a full Ti look can be a bit much.

The only obvious downside is price, and to be honest unless you can't find the length and rise you want in a Thomson or something similar, there is very little objective reason to go Ti other than for completeness.

Can you guys really feel flex in your stems

Going from no-name silver two bolt to thomson 4 bolt, definitely yes. And I wasn't even exptecting or hoping to feel any difference, just wanted a different length.

In something less than 120mm long, flex just isn't an issue. By the time you factor in the steerer and bar clamp, the tubing length is less than 90mm. I would challenge anybody to actually notice the flex in a stem that short, particularly with an oversized bar.

gil_ - can't find your e-mail in your profile. E-mail me at the following address.

[img] [/img]

Does that seatpost not say Scandium on it? Where's the titanium?

Divness aside.. what about the KCNC er SCANDIUM stems ? they appear to be very light if your looking for weight saving, and they come in black !

BTW, I'm not the only one confused today....

[url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/SPFRMSTM10TI/frm-st-m10-ti-seatpost ]ONONE Ti / Scandium post ?[/url]

Advertised as Ti !
[img] [/img]

Edit following above post.

Scandium ([url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandium ]wiki[/url]) is used in tiny amounts to form aluminium or titanium alloys.

The hardware is Ti Simon, pay attention!

The hardware is Ti Simon, pay attention!

Scandium (wiki) is used in tiny amounts to form aluminium or titanium alloys.

So... is Scandium a Ti alloy ?

Scandium is an element!

simonm - Member

The hardware is Ti Simon, pay attention!

The title in on-ones catalouge is FRM ST-M10 Ti Seatpost.... which I'm sure isnt highlighting the hardware...

Read the product description, they either come with steel or Ti Hardware, the one On-One are selling is the Ti hardware version hence the title.

So... is Scandium a Ti alloy ?

No.

Did you buy the KCNC seat post thinking Scandium was a Ti alloy?

So... Ti MTB parts have Scandium in them ?

FFS, are you doing this on purpose?

Scandium is an element like copper, aluminium, titanium, etc. It is added to aluminium or titanium to form an Al-Sc or Ti-Sc alloy.

Percentage by weight can be 0.1% to 0.5%, apparently.

Interesting article [url= http://www.teksidaluminum.com/pdf/25-2-2.pdf ]here[/url] on the metallurgical properties of Al-Sc.

Pure scandium comes in at €260 per g or US$2500 per kg - depends which source you read and when they were written, obviously.

From teh wiki:

World production of scandium is in the order of 2 tonnes per year in the form of scandium oxide. The primary production is 400 kg while the rest is from stockpiles of Russia generated during the Cold War. In 2003, only three mines produced scandium: the uranium and iron mines in Zhovti Vody in Ukraine, the rare earth mines in Bayan Obo, China and the apatite mines in the Kola peninsula, Russia. In each case scandium is a byproduct from the extraction of other elements.[10] and is sold as scandium oxide.

The production of metallic scandium is in the order of 10 kg per year.[10][11] The oxide is converted to scandium fluoride and reduced with metallic calcium.

It's pretty rare.

More expensive than gold!!!

FFS, are you doing this on purpose?

to be fair a little bit as you appeared to be getting irate and it passed a little time on a dull Monday. 😉

to be fair a little bit as you appeared to be getting irate and it passed a little time on a dull Monday.

Ah good, I was starting to think you were painfully thick.

More importantly, no one's confirmed what the Van Nic stem actually weighs, as I don't believe for a second it's actually 80g!

So if an On-One Scandal was actually made of nowt but Scandium, it'd be worth about $4k?!

Well if we assume the €260/g is more recent then it's more like €338000. Valuable frames though.

Incidentally, to answer the original question, I used to have a Moots Ti stem on my old Marin Team Titanium. It looked lovely but I definitely noticed the flex when standing up and pulling on the bar ends. I replaced it with a four bolt Thomson and the front of the bike felt a lot more solid.

: P

pierre - thanks for that