# Quill Stem Best type to look for



## jamesm029 (Jul 13, 2007)

I am looking to buy a quill stem for a threaded 1" fork bike

can anyone recommend the best model

I saw a 3ttt Motus quill stem that I liked but then read several reviews about them breaking near the bottom screw. So I am not taking a chance with this model.

Here are other models I found 

3TTT 3T 2002 Evolution Quill Bicycle Bike Stem

Cinelli Oyster Quill Bicycle Bike Road Stem

Cinelli "101" Road Stem 

3TTT (3T or TTT) Status Road Stem 

3TTT "Pro Chrome Corsa" Road Stem 


Anyone have experience with these, I want the stiffest , strongest quill stem, with best designed most reliable clamp/fastener. I will have LBS torque properly.


----------



## OneGear (Aug 19, 2005)

I have a status, 3ttt. I wouldn't call it the best designed... it looks good and it is light and seems pretty strong (only had it for 3 months), but the bar holding clamp does not detach and you need to run your bars through the hole for half of the bar and then center it, that means everytime you put a bar on it you need to thread it through the small hole and re-tape your bars... not very feasible in my opinion. My buddy has a motus, i don't think he has any complaints from it and he rides it hard. the clamp on his detaches for the bar if i remember correctly... I think that's important if you plan on switching between drops and bullhorns.


----------



## Fivethumbs (Jul 26, 2005)

Try to find a ITM Eclypse. Out of the list you gave I would go for the Pro Chrome Corsa first and then either the Status or the 101. The hinged and or two piece stems are the weakest. I can tell you that I have videos of Mario Cipolini riding an Oyster on the cobbles of Ghent Wevelgem and then going full out in the sprint at the end. But he probably never used the same stem for more than a few races before replacing it.


----------



## ARP (Mar 7, 2002)

*How much you want to spend?*



jamesm029 said:


> I am looking to buy a quill stem for a threaded 1" fork bike
> 
> can anyone recommend the best model
> 
> ...


Anyone remember the guy that was getting lugs and brazing his own and selling them for big loot? I think Hickey knows about him.

Have you looked at Nitto? Riv bike, AE bike, harris cyclery, peter white I think they all carry them.


----------



## Mootsie (Feb 4, 2004)

*Salsa*

I use the Salsa on my cross bike. It has the removable faceplate which makes travel and repairs easy. Its seems strong, no problems, but its black if that matters. My wife has the same stem on her cross bike. Same thing, no problems.


----------



## jamesm029 (Jul 13, 2007)

*Dura Ace Made By Nitto*

I looked at Peter White and also looked at Nitto, The nitto seem available at a number of retailers.

Peter White speaks highly about the Dura ace which was made by Nitto Mid 80's.

After a major search I found one and its probably the length I need see photos I have attached. I just do not understand how this tightens around the bar after you thread it through, the handlebar clamp looks to be one piece, how does it stay secure?
Is this a good stem does anyone else use it or have they used it in the past? 

The only other two I saw that I liked was the Nitto and the Cinelli 1A they seemed to have better screws fasteners on the front ever other one made me to nervous and I read about failures on several 3TTT like the Motus and 2002 evolution.

I have a Cinelli 64 Bar its not the 26.4 clamp size it is a bit newer and is 26.0 size for sure
so whatever I use to attach I want it to be strong/secure and I have heard some very early models of quill stem creaked bad.


----------



## RC28 (May 9, 2002)

On the DA Stem, the top bolt is simply a cap.Once removed, it exposes the actual bolt that secures it to the inside of the fork. It also exposes another bolt that goes to the back of the handlebar socket. So you insert the allen wrench to tighten the handlebar to the stem, rotate the wrench 73 degrees and tighten the stem into the frame. I made some rather rudimentary marking to your photo which should make this obvious.

What length stem are you looking for? I have two NOS Cinelli 101s (both have 26.0 mm handlebar clamps. One is a 130 mm and the other is a 120 mm) that have been sitting in storage for a while so PM me an offer if you're interested.


----------



## jamesm029 (Jul 13, 2007)

*Cinelli 101*

Hey thanks for the help now I understand, its a somewhat unique method of tightening the clamp. I dont see any break or crease in the clamp so it must have a sleeve inside the clamp that tightens around the bar? Is this a safe and solid design?

I have heard some horror stories about stems failing at the bolt which is why I avoided hinged front or ones with wierd two bolt design like the 3TTT motus.
My cinelli bar is 26.0 diameter so quite a few older 26.4 cinelli quill stems wont work.

I ordered this stem in 120mm and its shipping to me. Once the bike is built up I will have a better idea of length. Right now I use a 100mm on my oter bike but the Top tube is 1.5cm longer than the older bike I am building up with this stem. So I will start with a 120 and probably from there buy a few more.

Thanks and any addtional advice would be appreciated.


----------



## jamesm029 (Jul 13, 2007)

*Not many options these days for quill stems*

I think if the dura ace quill I bought i sno tthe right lenght I will go with Nitto they seem sturdier and better made and they did make the dura ace for shimano in early 80's

I see too many scary stories about bolts and hinges snapping
here is a test on the 1A I liked it before I read this

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/stemtesting.htm


----------



## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Don't read too much into that data. Bill Holland made stems and amazingly enough, his stems did well in the testing..(and provided the data)

There are hundreds of thousands of Cinelli XA and 1A users out there that have no problems with the stems... The stem was THE stem to have in the 80's.

I have Dura Ace stems and Cinelli stems on various bikes and to be honest, I cannot tell any difference in stiffness. I've never had any of the above stems fail..

The Dura Ace is harder to keep from creaking because of the clamp. I found the solution is to use a 26.4 bar....While the stem was designed for a 26.0 bar, there is plenty of room for a 26.4 bar to fit...


----------



## cydswipe (Mar 7, 2002)

*Just a thought.*

You might try asking at your LBS. A lot of stems are threadless now. They might get you a deal on a quill if they have some "old stock". They were the standard, now a shop might like to move them at a lower cost.


----------



## Richard (Feb 17, 2006)

Dave Hickey said:


> There are hundreds of thousands of Cinelli XA and 1A users out there that have no problems with the stems... The stem was THE stem to have in the 80's.
> 
> I have Dura Ace stems and Cinelli stems on various bikes and to be honest, I cannot tell any difference in stiffness. I've never had any of the above stems fail..
> 
> The Dura Ace is harder to keep from creaking because of the clamp. I found the solution is to use a 26.4 bar....While the stem was designed for a 26.0 bar, there is plenty of room for a 26.4 bar to fit...


Ditto this. I used a 26.4 Cinelli bar in the DuraAce stem on my ex-wife's bike with no problems.

Plus I found most squeaking problems were due to sleeved bars as opposed to bulged bars for the center section. We called it "Cinelli Creak." My old Scott Lite Flite, a sleeved bar, shares that characteristic.:mad2:


----------



## Richard (Feb 17, 2006)

Oh, and a P.S.

If you can "tolerate" a Japanese component on your Euro build, the Nitto Dynamic stem and the relatively new 176 (similar to the Cinelli 64 type) bar are very nice. I used them on the Raleigh fixie for the "old school" look. Beautifully made stuff and readily available.


----------



## jamesm029 (Jul 13, 2007)

*Creaking*

Interesting thanks for the input!

The squeaking creaking thing would drive me nuts, I hate this .

Right now as stated above I have a 26.0 Cinelli 64 bar and the durace stem as one option.

So this would mean I would need to buy a 26.4 bar cinelli and while you can find then finding a NOS one is not that easy, I would only use it if it was NOS.

The other option I have is I do have a quill adapter its made by Nitto very well made. and then just go with a regular stem. Then I could swap them out as needed to get correct fit an dont have to strip the bar. I know not so traditional !

From what you say it sounds like its the cinelli bars with sleeves that squeek not the stem. From everything I have read everyone seems to love their cinelli 64 bars
the reason I picked one up in the first place was I thought it was heavier , thicker wall and would last longer than some of the italian designed made in asia light garbage with wierd bends.

So if I find another bar that is 26.0 without sleeve would I have better luck with no creaking.
I read somewhere on the net that someone solved the creak by using some blue loctite then spray it around stem clamp with a bit of compressed air then let it dry overnight speaks stopped? In the same post their were people bashing the cinelli bar- bad design because of sleeve all the pressure is in ends?? Meanwhile the defenders were using 20 year old cinelli bars, I would love to see the critics with their deda anatomics in 20 years.

Bottom line is I dont care if its japanese/italian , I will have durace on the whole bike anyway. I just prefer to find sound strong stuff that works and leave it be. I could care less about weight. I live in the flat lands!

thanks for your honest help


----------



## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

Personally I think Nitto makes about the nicest quill stems right now. Either the Pearl or Technomic Deluxe are very high quality finish. The Deluxe has a longer quill if you need to raise your bars higher. The standard Technomic will allow you to raise bars even higher.

If you like the convenience of removable facecap, Nitto makes a very nice one that is available in 90 degrees from Tullios bike shop. The Salsa quill also is very high quality, but only available in black. All of the Salsas have very short quills, but they come in various rises up to 105. Finally the Profile H20 is another good stem with removable facecap. Not as nice looking as the Salsa or Nitto, but it has a long quill and will raise your bars higher than any other stem other than the Technomic.


----------



## Mel Erickson (Feb 3, 2004)

+1 for the Salsa. Very good stem and I love the removeable face plate. Not the lightest but it's not a boat anchor, either. Also love the gold colored bolt. That color scheme might not work on all bikes but you can get the bolt in chrome and either a chrome or black face plate. Also lots of choices on extensions and angles http://aebike.com/page.cfm?action=list&PageID=30&category=149&modelId=8835&type=T


----------



## MShaw (Jun 7, 2003)

Syncros. As stiff or stiffer than the Eclypse and lighter to boot.

Remind me to tell y'all about the time I changed from a Specialized stem to the Syncros... Talk about WAY STIFF!!

M


----------



## rufus (Feb 3, 2004)

always been partial to the 3T Record 84. beautiful looking stem, and really hard to find these days, especially in a polished silver, before they switched them to a gun-metal gray anodizing. 

the 3T Synthesis is an ok stem too, not as pretty as the Record 84, but much easier to be found. there's usually a bunch of then to be had on eBay. 

and the Cinelli XA is the mark by which all quill stems will be judged.


----------



## Einstruzende (Jun 1, 2004)

If you want stiff, all I can say is that you do not want a Nitto Technomic. I have one and as soon as I put it on and started riding I could feel a bit of flex. By flex, I mean twisting not up and down.


----------



## djg21 (Oct 25, 2003)

jamesm029 said:


> I want the stiffest , strongest quill stem, with best designed most reliable clamp/fastener. I.


Given this statement, I'd say none of the above. Get yourself a TIG-welded CroMoly Salsa stem. You can still find them new for for around $50. http://www.thebikebiz.com/category_s/196.htm . None of the stems you mention will be as stiff.


----------



## djg21 (Oct 25, 2003)

MShaw said:


> Syncros. As stiff or stiffer than the Eclypse and lighter to boot.
> 
> Remind me to tell y'all about the time I changed from a Specialized stem to the Syncros... Talk about WAY STIFF!!
> 
> M


I liked mine too.Then it broke, as did my Synchros seat post previously. This was years ago, when Synchros was still in business. The stuff was pretty, but not too durable. regularly inspect around the bolts for fracturing, and use a torque wrench if you are atall ham-fisted.


----------



## brad888 (Aug 7, 2007)

*Cinelli XA and Cinelli XE whats the Difference??*

After reading some of the posts and reviews I decided on a Cinelli stem problem is I see two versions although the XE seems much more rare??

does someone know what the difference is between these two? I have a Cinelli bar with 26.0 mm clamp size They look exactly the same and the only difference I can see is that on the inner clamp of the XE where it hold the bar it appears smooth. The inner part of the XA appears to have small ridges for gripping. The front of My handlebar has a few small ridges on the sleeve and is new. They changed it for a reason , can anyone tell me more about this.


----------

