on the front page – Just thought I’d point out that it’s a blatant rip off of Odyssey elementary stem

That is all.

Haha good spot and pretty much looks like an odyssey v2

That stem was designed by George French of G-Sport. Odyssey just fronted the cash for production and re-branded it as part of the deal. Pretty sure he had relevant patents in place before it was seen in public. I remember sponsored riders with their stems wrapped up and everyone wondering what the hell could be so special about a stem. So maybe USE have had to licence the design.

The USE version looks similar but with a little, puny bolt. The bmx version is pretty compact due to the skinny bars, I wonder how big this looks in comparison. Still pretty sleek though.

Love their lights, but a single point of failure for my bars and stem? No thanks.

More like a single point of being able to have your forks nicked off your bike by a thieving scrote 😆

Love their lights, but a single point of failure for my bars and stem? No thanks.

Think of it the other way.

Odds of a bolt loosening or snapping, say 1 in 1000* rides? (only takes one bolt to loosen and the bars will spin, or the added strain will do some other damage to the bars/steerer/other bolts).

6 bolts on a normal stem, so an expected failure rate 1 in 166 rides.

1 bolt in USE’s stem, still 1 in 1000.

More like a single point of being able to have your forks nicked off your bike by a thieving scrote

1 bolt Vs 2 (plus brake hoses, and bolt through wheel), and if you’re that worried they’d probably nick your expensive stem too.

*stab in the dark, guesstimating that I have the bars come loose maybe once a year across all my bikes so 1in166 seems about right?

I get what you are saying TINAS, but it is the catastrophic failure that worries me. If this one bolt snaps then a crash seems certain, but I reckon I can survive one bolt going on a 6-bolt setup. So, I’d need two (or maybe even three) bolts to fail at the same time to crash on a 6-bolt setup, so the odds go to 1 in 1000 squared (or even cubed).

OK, I know we can’t really treat the bolts as independent random variables, but you see what I mean.

George French of G-Sport

Thats a name from the past.

So if I’ve carbon bars with a 5nm torque limit, presumably that will limit the steerer to that too?

stab in the dark, guesstimating that I have the bars come loose maybe once a year across all my bikes so 1in166 seems about right?

Think you might need a torque wrench……. i’ve not had a bar or stem come loose in (probably) 10 years. And when i had a closer look, it was as the bar had cracked.

If this one bolt snaps then a crash seems certain

How many bolts have you snapped on an mtb?

Think you might need a torque wrench……. i’ve not had a bar or stem come loose in (probably) 10 years. And when i had a closer look, it was as the bar had cracked.

So you have had one come loose then :p

Ironically it was a properly torqued carbon bar that let go last, like you i suspected the old carbon bars that were flexing a bit much so binned them.

Regardless of the odds of one properly torqued bolt loosening, if it’s that rare for 1 in 6, it’s still 6x rarer for 1 bolt.

I get what you are saying TINAS, but it is the catastrophic failure that worries me. If this one bolt snaps then a crash seems certain, but I reckon I can survive one bolt going on a 6-bolt setup. So, I’d need two (or maybe even three) bolts to fail at the same time to crash on a 6-bolt setup, so the odds go to 1 in 1000 squared (or even cubed).

OK, I know we can’t really treat the bolts as independent random variables, but you see what I mean.

Yea, the reality is probably somewhere between the two, the case where 1 bolt comes loose and you notice it before it causes a second to work loose for example. But it’s still 6x less likely that 1 bolt will come lose with consequences, than 1in6 come loose (and give you a possible chance to notice before causing the rest to work loose). But if one comes loose, then there’ll probably be enough movement to work the others loose, otherwise, as you say, they’d never be a problem, so you’re still left with the odds of a single bolt failing (snapping, loosening, corroding) and then noticing that before it progresses (bearing in mind you’re kinda arguing that it’s symptom less because the only symptom is the bars slipping causing a crash).

How many bolts have you snapped on an mtb?

Well one critical one that kept me off the bike for 6 weeks. Never, ever use a seatpost with a single bolt saddle clamp system.

Marko

Regardless of the odds of one properly torqued bolt loosening, if it’s that rare for 1 in 6, it’s still 6x rarer for 1 bolt.

As long as the bolt design, specification and loading is the same. It’s not.

Awesome, yet another USE product with miniscule bolts that are completely unfit for purpose (I’m looking at you, Alien seatpost and Ringo Star). I’ll pass.

Nah. Not for me.

One bolt fails – you’re stuffed. On that pic up there, the bolt looks pretty manly – M8, perhaps so you’re probably fine, although perhaps easy to crush the bars doing that one up as you can heave on it.

The USE bolt looks a bit spindly & if that lets go, you are buggered.
On a normal stem if one bolt goes, you’d probably have enough control to come to a stop unless you were right on the ragged edge.

Also – I like the ability to adjust stem/fork alignment & handlebar/stem alignment/rotation independently.
This one bolt design means that you undo the bolt and your stem slips round the steerer at the same time as your bars lose their central position & rotate forwards or backwards.

What is the advantage? Lightweight? Estimated weight range is 114-126g.
According to the Clee Cycles website, my KCNC stem weighs 103g in a 70mm length, so it’s not even that light….

What is the advantage? Lightweight? Estimated weight range is 114-126g.
According to the Clee Cycles website, my KCNC stem weighs 103g in a 70mm length, so it’s not even that light….

Yes, but compare it to other ‘Enduro’ stems rather than a spindly XC stem. For example the Ritchey stem on my road bike is lighter than your KCNC, and 40mm longer again.

On a normal stem if one bolt goes, you’d probably have enough control to come to a stop unless you were right on the ragged edge.

Would you though? If 1 bolt loosened for whatever reason mid gnarrr, how would you notice before the second went? Whenever mine have gone, it’s always been a quick ‘thunk’ over a rock/pothole and the bars are pointing at the floor.

A bit like when alloy chainring bolts go, one goes, you don’t notice until a second goes shortly after and the chainring folds in half.

There are a lot of what iffs and highly imaginary unlikely scenarios in this thread.

My grips, seat, cranks, pedals, brake levers, gear shifters and wheels are all held on with one bolt each. Adding the stem to this list wouldn’t worry me.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Yes, but compare it to other ‘Enduro’ stems rather than a spindly XC stem. For example the Ritchey stem on my road bike is lighter than your KCNC, and 40mm longer again.

127g for a 50mm Renthal.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Yes, but compare it to other ‘Enduro’ stems rather than a spindly XC stem. For example the Ritchey stem on my road bike is lighter than your KCNC, and 40mm longer again.

127g for a 50mm Renthal.

127g for a 50mm Renthal.

Or 254g for 2 50mm Renthals, right?

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Yes, but compare it to other ‘Enduro’ stems rather than a spindly XC stem. For example the Ritchey stem on my road bike is lighter than your KCNC, and 40mm longer again.

I can’t see anything saying it’s an ‘enduro’ stem. Is that just because it’s so short? Surely if it was ‘enduro’ it would be anodised in fluo yellow, blue or green? 🙂

I’m pleased your road stem is longer & lighter than my ‘spindly xc stem’. I wasn’t trying to turn it into a stem willy-waving contest, just pointing out that it wasn’t that light (see above for a perhaps more relevant example).

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Would you though? If 1 bolt loosened for whatever reason mid gnarrr, how would you notice before the second went? Whenever mine have gone, it’s always been a quick ‘thunk’ over a rock/pothole and the bars are pointing at the floor.

Dunno. I do my stem bolts up correctly so have never had one come loose.
But, if one bolt did come loose there would still be some clamping force from the remaining bolts; in fact I could probably get away with only two bolts on the faceplate of my stem & it would be tight enough to ride with.

Anyway – it’s doesn’t really matter as like I said, it’s not something I would consider putting on my bike.
Aside from the potential child’s face disaster of having that one bolt fail, it would (IMO) still be a pain in the ass to set-up & adjust. That’s why I also like my spindly KCNC seatpost; ou can adjust tilt & fore/aft position completely independently.