New Nitto x Blue Lug Power Stem

[Eric Marth]

Seems to me this group would go just plain bananas for this new stem!

25.4 clamp with a 4-bolt plate

Nitto Power Stem. Two models with different rises, FW30 and FW33. Silver and black. 

[Johnny Alien]

Nice! It seems exactly like the MT-54S but maybe with a touch more height.  The MT-54S is my favorite Nitto stem.

[Jason Fuller]

Woo!  I might just buy the FW30 for the Bombadil.  I do like the smooth fillets of the Riv version of this stem, but I'm somewhat between sizes on the Riv stems and this has exactly what I want (the 100mm, which will be around 90mm actual I believe). Thanks for sharing Eric! 

[Johnny Alien]

The Riv Fillet Faceplater is WAY taller than this one. My main beef with Riv's stem offerings is that everything has massive height.  That's great when you have small headtubes and need to get the bars up but now that they have sloping top tubes and big headtubes I think they should offer some standard height stems.  I can't use anything they offer because I have to practically slam stems with their geometry.  I would love a fillet brazed stem like they sell but there is no way I could get it to work. The bars would end up way too high.

[Collin A]

While cool and useful, I think Nitto/others need to figure out a better method for welding/brazing the threaded portions of the stem face plate. Currently (sample size of 3 for me), each stem and set of threaded sections are all slightly different, meaning that if for some reason the faceplate gets damaged or lost, you can't just get another face plate and be guaranteed that it works on your stem.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it just my bad luck?

Collin in Sactown

[Eric Marth]

Happy to share, Jason! Best o'luck :) 

On Saturday, February 26, 2022 at 9:17:25 PM UTC-5 Jason Fuller wrote:

[Eric Marth]

Funny that in their blog post Nitto shares two of Ron's bikes with the Uncle Ron's Back Bars and yet this new stem wouldn't work with 'em! 

https://bluelug.com/blog/global/nitto-power-stem/

[Jason Fuller]

It's perplexing (and annoying) that all the Crust bars are 26.0 instead of 25.4. The "this way they fit drop bar stems" argument just doesn't hold water. 

In other news, I took delivery of my Nitto Power stem today!  And I got it on the Bombadil and out for a 20km ride after work! It's perfect. The Wavie bars always looked kinda weird with a "7" stem due to the lack of any rise. Love this.  Thanks for the heads up again Eric!! 

[Andrew Letton]

Hi Jason-

Please tell us about the frame decal on your Bombadil!

It is clearly not stock RBW... Have they run out of decals? Was yours one of the original clear powdercoated framesets that has been repainted?

thanks,

Andrew...rider of a 60cm Bombadil in Sydney

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[Jason Fuller]

You're quite right on all counts Andrew - I actually was able to get a set of NOS decals from Rivendell, but the painter was not happy with their state of deterioration and sourced a set himself - I have no idea the details!  All he said was "I got a new set coming from the place in the US that makes them".  

[Eric Marth]

Glad I could make a recommendation that worked out, Jason! 

The bike looks great, as ever. Did you get any other cool stuff with your Blue Lug order?

[James Olivares]

These remind of an updated version (faceplate + additional vertical adjustment) of the old Ritchey Force (Nitto made) quill stems on 90s MTBs.  I definitely want to try this out in the near future.

[Johnny Alien]

I recently bought one of these and just received it. I love the Nitto MT-54S and this is indeed similar but it surpasses it in a few ways. 

1. It has a little extra height. Not a ton but enough to give a little more flexibility. Not a huge deal for me as I don't really need more height but that will be a plus for many people.
2. The faceplate on the Blue Lug version is a little cleaner and sports the Nitto logo in a classy way. The MT-54S faceplate is nice and maybe even a little fancier to look at but I prefer the one on this Blue Lug stem.
3. These stems come in smaller sizes. The MT-54S stops at 80mm or 90mm (I forget). I like the option to go shorter. In fact the whole reason I went this way is because my new Clem is a long reach for me. I needed to bring the bars closer than the stock 80mm Nitto allowed. Most options like the MT-54S, the SimWorks stems, those new ones Rivendell sells or the Velo Orange options stop at 80mm. Because of the rise it would have brought them a bit closer than the stock stem but not by a whole lot.  I was able to get a 70mm stem from Blue Lug. The Nitto Faceplatter is just too silly tall for me.
4. A really nice plus is that the stem cap can be replaced with the options offered by Analog and SimWorks if you want to add a dash of color. I think between those two sources you can get gold, red, green, black and silver. I picked up a gold one. The new Rivendell stem might be able to do the same thing I am not sure.

[Drew Henson]

old thread, but does anyone have one of thee laying around they'd be will to part ways with? i just got the riv faceplatter and it's about 15 cm too long and bottoms out on the steer tube leaving the bars just a touch high. this blue lug version would be perfecto. the MT-54 would be too short i think.

[Ben Stuart]

John,

would you mind measuring the height of your FW30 from the minimum insertion mark to the midpoint of the intersection between the stem shaft and the stem extension?

Many thanks.

[Johnny Alien]

I am bookmarking this and will totally do this asap. I currently have covid and haven't been very successful in doing anything but sleeping.