My riding yesterday up in the woods showed me just how poor my fitness and bike handling skills have become. Rather than inspire me to ride more, it made me want a custom stem to put the midge drop bars a little higher and closer! Specifically, a 52 x 180 stem like the one illustrated below.
BikeCAD drawing courtesy M. WhitmoreAnyway, instead of riding this morning, I researched custom stems.
Vanilla, Sycip, et al. seem to only make stems for their custom frame orders. MAP cycles (one of my favorite Portland builders) will do a custom $325 stem. Ahearne will do a fillet brazed stem starting at $275.
It looks like the bargainz are the $135 stem ($165 with removable face plate) from Rex Cycles, a possible $175 Rock Lobster (a good match for a Bontrager, I think), and Willits’, $150 Scorcher stem. Wes Williams has made hundreds of super-high-rise stems for exactly this purpose.
Dont forget rick @ hunter. He does fillet brazed stems for 150
Hey, Miles! Thanks – that’s a great price, and he really should be a first choice. http://www.huntercycles.com/
Other than the *NKR fit, how well has the steer-tube extender been working out?
*not quite right
Can8 – How did I miss this comment for four months?!
The stem extender actually works great. I put on a shorter stem, and the fit is pretty dialed.
I also talked to Winter Bicycles about making a custom LD or high-rise stem. When the money and priorities come together, I'll get one from him. $200 – $250, depending on the style.
Nice bike. Cool T-shirt too. KB
Nice bike… Cool t-shirt too. KB
Thanks, KBVelo. It's a great bike, and I may actually go back to the original bars. The tee shirt keeps getting retired, and then I pull it out of the rag pile before it gets gunked up.
Hey Philip!
I just put together a "themed" stem that might be along the lines of what you are thinking (sans the thematic elements): http://winterbicycles.blogspot.com/2010/08/monster-stem.html
Thanks for the link, BTW!
Eric – that Monster Stem is about perfect. I'd want a normal diameter clamp, but the four-bolt is a key feature.
I like the thematic scarring, too.
I semi-featured your stem on my Bike Tinker bike blog. I hope you don't mind.
Thanks!