My stock Alu stem ( Giant) and it weighs 127grms. Thats lighter than most carbon stems, and a lot lighter than Alu stems in the £80-100 price range. How have Giant done that then?.Scales are calibrated so weight is correct. Don’t think i will order a new stem now.

It’s not just Giant. Most OE stems on half decent bikes are just as good and within a very few grams as the expensive trick stuff. The one on my Pitch is just the same, as was my On One stem.
These days it’s pointless spending more then £30 on a stem really.

Light, Stiff, Cheap, usually you can pick two….

Giant are the biggest bike manufacturer in the world, so either;

a) Giant asked a component manufacturer to jump and they said how high, knowing it was going to be a huge order.

b) Giant manufactures them themselves, thus cutting costs, but probably makes as many as most component manufacturers so their R&D and manufacturing cost is the same, but they don’t have to pay for any marketing, or distributor, or shops margins. So if it costs Easton £70 to sell you a stem (calling the shops profit a ‘cost’ as well), Giant could get you the same stem for £30.

The stem on my Pitch was horribly flexy, swapped it for a RaceFace one and it’s hugely better, it was light though so not a great example.

The headset in ChrisL’s anthem was incredibly light too- downside was it exploded under the pressure of my headset press but it was impressive kit til I murdered it 🙁

Did that include the bolts?