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been looking at new bars and stems recently (that's on another post) but something that ive been looking at is whats better, see title 🙂 I read a sheldon brown article on this and from what i can gather forging can produce a stronger part but tooling costs prohibit small scale runs and thats where cnc comes in. (as well as being able to whip up some funky shapes that forging couldn't handle)
so is an easton forged stem as good as a thomson cnc'd stem (the forged one is lighter btw)
Cheers in advance
I'd usually go for forged over cnc for exactly the reasons you detailed. Forged then finished by cnc can be better yet but is expensive.
as always, you get what yu pay for.
Forging will lead to directionalised crystals which can make it stronger if well designed, but not all alloys are good for forging and some strong ones are still easily machined....pro's and cons.
Decide what you want, looks, strength, light....then pay what you are willing and don't fret on the manufacturing techniques.
Forged.
lugged and brazed
neilnevill, more curiosity than anything else, as usual when i start looking into thing some wee cogs start whirring and i start thinking more than is required. |
Thanks for the replies
If well designed a forged stem will be stronger as grain structure tends to flow around the part.
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Most top quality stems are forged billet alloy CNC'd into the finshed article.
If they can forge the stem into the right shape so it doesn't need milling, you're gonna get a cheaper product with the same strength and/or weight.
It then comes down to aesthetics, I suppose, and what you're willing to pay for a certain look.
Remember the triangle theory. The corners are Light, Strong or Cheap.
You get to pick two in almost all products.
White?
Forged - the explanations above pretty much have it in laymans terms.
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Well my Easton (forged) stem arrived today. Very nice. Well happy. Curiosity has been fed.
Cheers guys