Custom Stem? Who makes a worthy one for my Bombadil

[williwoods]

Hey guys. So I am having a bit of a dilema. Been riding my Bullmoose
bars all week and my hands just arent agreeing with these.

I am going to run either Porteur bars or Albatross or something
similar with not a whole lot of rise not drop bars.

There arent a whole lot of options these days as far as stems go. I
believe what I want is a stem that has a bit of rise to it. This way I
dont need to run a technomic raised all the way. I really like the
Nitto Lugged stems and have thought about running a threadless Nitto
with a Quill adapter. But that seems kinda silly. Another option I saw
that I really liked was the Nitto Reversable stem but it looks like
the only ones around are 60mm and those are $130..not that bad really
but I think I need at least an 80mm, man these are so cool. Wish I
could find an old Diamond Back MTB that had a similar stem stock on em
also a nitto made item.

I know about the Nitto Dirt Drop stems but honestly I find them a bit
ugly....is that silly of me?

So the last thing I am contemplating is a Custom stem. If I get a
custom stem made I would like to get something made that is similar to
a lugged nitto, something that will match the personality of my frame
and lugged seatpost I have.


Any Ideas?

[frank_a]

Call Rick Hunter~ Huntercycles.com
He can build anything and is a great guy.
- Frank

[Ginz]

Second Rick Hunter. I don't know of any other custom builders that
will do a quill stem... and only a stem without a frame.

The Nitto Dirt Drop looks great in my opinion. I like it better than
a Techno Deluxe. Give it a try, you can always sell it on the forum!

[williwoods]

The Ideal stem would be a Lugged quill Nitto stem with rise at least
80mm.

I will check out Rick Hunter. thanks for the tip folks.

Will

[CycloFiend]

As others have mentioned, Rick Hunter.

Tony Pereira makes beautiful stems, but I don't know what his backlog is
like. Ditto Bruce Gordon, though he does list both stock and custom sizes
on his website.

Old mtb stems may be a different diameter at the bars - you'd want to
confirm that.

- J

--
Jim Edgar
Cyclo...@earthlink.net

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[eflayer]

how about a salsa sul quill. price is decent...and you could have it
powdered the color of your choice.

thought they were being manufactured again, but could be wrong about
that.

I'd bet one of the most cost effective customs would come from Doug
Curtis at Curtlo.

On Nov 22, 7:36 pm, CycloFiend <cyclofi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> As others have mentioned, Rick Hunter.
>
> Tony Pereira makes beautiful stems, but I don't know what his backlog is
> like.  Ditto Bruce Gordon, though he does list both stock and custom sizes
> on his website.
>
> Old mtb stems may be a different diameter at the bars - you'd want to
> confirm that.  
>
> - J
>
> --
> Jim Edgar

> Cyclofi...@earthlink.net
>
> Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries -http://www.cyclofiend.com

> Current Classics - Cross Bikes
> Singlespeed - Working Bikes
>

> Gallery updates now appear here -http://cyclofiend.blogspot.com

[William]

I'd strongly recommend getting a standard stem with a ton of
adjustability until you have you pain situation cleared up and only
after that is dialed then invest the big $$$ in a stem that has the
look you want. There are few things more frustrating than taking a
wild guess on a custom stem, then finding out it's still not right,
and dealing with pain because you can't justify removing it, and then
after months of suffering you finally take it off and then after years
of having it rattle around your parts box you sell it for 10 cents on
the dollar. But if you guess that a dirt drop might be the right
ballpark shape and then dial in the fit, then you can specify exactly
the custom you want. You'll easily be able to sell a used dirt drop
to one of us for between half and 75% of retail.

[williwoods]

That is actually very sensible of you to recommend.

Should have thought of that myself.....Thank You..

Will

[James Valiensi]

Hi,
Brent Steelman makes stems - $150 in about two weeks. Fantastic workmanship.

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[Frederick, Steve]

Try some different grips with the Bullmoose bars first, maybe? Ergon makes a cork version now which isn't bad looking and they're very comfortable:

http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/interbike2009-gp1-biokork

The Nitto Periscopa is a good test stem to try on your way to deciding whether you need a custom. It's the right clamp diameter to fit mtb bars (unlike the Dirt Drop) and it's cheaper.

Steve

Any Ideas?

--

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

Quill stems are a great frustration for me for exactly this reason:
very little selection in terms of rise, clamp diameter, etc. So many
good handlebar options that simply aren't available to those of us who
happen to have a bike with a quill stem. And what seems to be a simple
stem swap becomes an hour's worth of work and a sacrifice of perfectly
good bar tape...

There's a builder here in MN, I think his name is Mike Pofahl, who has
a good reputation, if not much fame. I have heard rumors that he makes
custom stems for very reasonable prices - i.e. competitive with a
Nitto Technomic. I cannot find contact info for him at the moment, but
I think you could get in touch with him through Milltown Cycles:
http://www.milltowncycles.com/

[William]

...but the VO quill adapter gets you into the full mainstream of
selection if you want quick and easy stem swaps, and it's only $16. I
think it's not bad looking either. That piece converts your
1" (22.2mm) quill bike into a receptacle for any 1-1/8" clamp-on
stem. Those come in every size, rise, and color, and most of them
have a removable front plate so you can do your 5 minute stem swaps.
That's an easy solution, provided you don't mind the "moderne" look.

On Nov 23, 10:37 am, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery

[Peter Pesce]

You'd think someone would have made a quill with a removable face
plate by now....

[eflayer]

the Salsa SUL with the poster child for open face quills. Then there
is/was the ugly poster child, the Profile Design H2O.

I emailed Salsa today and got a response nearly immediately (yea!
Salsa). And I quote, "the cromo SUL quill and threadless stems are no
more."

> > > > Any Ideas?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[eflayer]

I meant "the SUL was the poster child..."

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