Faceplater failure--anyone else?

[Brett Callahan]

I recently bought a tosco to use with a faceplater stem because the losco I was trying out didn't agree with me.  I like the wider, more flared tosco a lot.  Anyway,  In a test ride of the new setup, the bar was slipping.  I torqued the bolts down, probably too much, because I noticed in doing so that the faceplate now seems to be bent.  In removing the faceplate, one of the bolts sheeted off and is stuck in the stem.  

I can get the bolt out, but I'm not sure what to do with the bent faceplate.  Anyone else have this issue? Anyone know if Riv has replacements? 

For what it's worth, I bought the 31.8 bar and stem because I was worried about slippage.  I'm a big guy and that's lots of leverage, but honestly I expected better from Nitto.

  I replaced the faceplater  with a slightly shorter 2 bolt removable faceplate stem from Velo Orange, which has larger diameter bolts to attach the faceplate, and didn't experience any slipping. However, the VO stem us a little shorter than I'd like, and I really hate to think I'm just out a nice looking stem because of the bent faceplate.

 Brett in PDX     

[Joe Bernard]

I would start with Riv and see if they can source a new plate, if they can find one they're surely going to tell you to buy a torque wrench. I had a 25.4 Face Plater and I found - as I always do with this design - that it's a real bugger to get all 4 bolts snugged down evenly just on feel; get it wrong and I expect you would indeed have some slippage with a high-leverage bar even if they feel tight. 

Which isn't very comforting information for you now, but hopefully Riv and Nitto can get you a plate and you can start over. 

Joe Bernard

[Joe Bernard]

Of course there's always the possibility you got a bad tolerance match between clamp and bar diameters. I've been swapping bars and stems for 30-odd years and sometimes you just get a bad combination. Including with Nitto. 

[Collin A]

Regarding issues, I have not had any with mine (though I am a small guy with not way-back bars like boscos). I tend to keep the M5 bolt torque to 5 nm (got a little preset torque wrench from my local Trek store that just has piles of the things) and that tends to keep things from slipping. For reference, Paul Components has a video somewhere on the internet about torquing faceplates down and why even they keep it low.

Regarding replacement of a bent faceplate, you are likely SOL. From what I can tell (sample size of 2), each one of the stems is slightly unique in that the bolt placements are all slightly different and so no 2 faceplates are the same when it comes to where the bolts slide in.

Have you examined the bar clamp area? Any damage to that or just the stem?

Also, you mention using loscos but the 31.8 faceplater stem...are you using shims? That might contribute to additional slippage despite high bolt torque.

Riv still has some choco-moose bars on their website...they seem to be pretty similar shape (though not identical) to the loscos.

Collin in Sactown

On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 9:35:22 PM UTC-7 brettjc...@gmail.com wrote:

[velomann]

I've got the longest faceplate stem (135) holding Bosco bars on my Sam and while I haven't experienced any slipping, it does creak. Had me perplexed for awhile because it only creaks when I'm holding the grips (max torque on the stem) I ride a lot on the center of the bar near the stem (wrapped) and sometimes on the bends in front of the flat grip area. No creak. But out on the grips it creaks. I eliminated headset, brake lever connection to bar, everything else. I removed the faceplate, re-lubed the bolts, even lubed the stem/bar interface. It still creaks.

Mike "maybe it's a Portland thing?" M

On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 9:35:22 PM UTC-7 brettjc...@gmail.com wrote:

[Brett Callahan]

Thanks for the thoughts, folks. I'll use a torque wrench next time and look for a suitable replacement in the meantime. 

Brett

[Will Horton]

mine creaked as well until I greased the bolts and the bar clamp interface. when it first started, i dripped a tiny bit of tri-flo under the bar/stem interface and that stopped it immediately. Then when i had time, I took it all apart and greased as above and the creak has not come back.