Right I need a 70mm stem for my commuter bike. It’s going to be a Thomson item and it needs to be oversized. The bike is an Inbred with 700c wheels, full mudguards and a pannier rack so it isn’t going anywhere new the muddy stuff. It’s also got carbon bars and seatpost.

Here’s my query that I’d appreciate peoples opinions on. Will an X2 stem work better with the carbon bars to reduce road buzz or should I just fit an X4 and accept the 12g weight penalty?

are you taking the p*ss? a thomson stem on a commuter?

my commuter’s got thomson stem and post and full xt groupset. what’s the problem? i ride the thing around 3,500 miles a year!

My commute is 130-miles a week so I ride the bike I want to ride not put up with whatever can be cobbled together.

I’m thinking just get the X4 as the Roadhog forks and carbon bars give a lot of dampening.

i think it’ll make absolutely **** all difference what you choose, i can’t believe you even asked the question.

i think its 12grams what difference does it make. However before i knew much about nice things i bought an xc bike and put an x2 stem on it and took it jumping….lol. anyway it was strong enough for that.

rs,

I thought the Roadhog forks would be no different to the Superlights they replaced but they are a lot ‘plusher’. Fitting the carbon bars and seatpost also gave a noticable improvement.

If I’m spending £60 on either of the stems then I might as well fit the most suitable one. It would be retarded not to.

The 12g differnce was a tongue in cheek comment. I’d rather have more dampening than save weight – I’ve got 20lbs of kit to carry and my 13.5stone frame 😀

I’m not sure what the difference is between the two forks you mention so can’t comment there, carbon post and bars will make a noticeable difference to alloy ones, but a metal stem is just a metal stem. you won’t feel any difference, certainly not on a commuter, I would consider the X4 might feel stiffer flying through a rock garden but it’ll make **** all difference on the commute, seriously get whichever one you prefer the look of.

I run an X4 on my road bike with Easton EC90 Equipe carbon bars and EC90 superlite forks. I chose the X4 over the X2 because I prefer 0 degree stems and also the fact that the X4 is torsionally stiffer than the X2, so less twisting when out of the saddle, something you may want to consider if you are carrying loads of kit!

if i was commuting 130miles a week i think i would be more bothered about the frame than how you can fix an inbred with a posh stem.

i think it’ll make absolutely **** all difference what you choose, i can’t believe you even asked the question.

+1

surely tyres, grips, gloves, forks, frame, bars are all further up the road buzz solution list

Inbred frame, with guards and panniers, and your worrying about accepting a 12g weight penalty. This is time I will never get back.

One of these would sort out that pesky road buzz

Carbon frame?

I don’t think either stem will make any difference to road buzz. Just get the lighter one.

theboatman, the time would have been better spent actually reading the thread 😉

The bike is brilliant and a very good ride. It is certainly more comfortable to ride than my old Scott commuter bike.

The strange thing to me is that there is such little weight difference between the X2 and X4. Given that the X2 has a two less bolts and a stripped out face plate.

Hhmmm I may just flip a coin.

Ended up getting an X2 – as one popped up on e-Gay – and I’ve very happy with it.

It replaced a Truvative Hussefelt item so the 210g weight saving (!) has made the front end feel a bit light. Seen an improvement in comfort too.