At 12:21 PM 4/25/01 -0800, you wrote:
>Anyone care to ID whether this is or is not the AVA stem that was known
>to break? I don't have any first hand experience with breaking the
>style shown in this auction.
>
><http://ebay.com/<blah>
>
>Chuck Schmidt
>South Pasadena, California
Hi Chuck
This is not the one I know all too well as the death stem, but it looks equally crude. The ones that I saw break did not break in the hollow, horizontal section. They broke in the vertical, quill portion. Fortunately, the bolt kept the bars and extension from totally separating from the bike and falling into the front wheel. The ebay stem may be even earlier on AVA's aluminum alloy learning curve. Too close for comfort if it was my choice to make for a bike I was going to ride. But, the choice is yours. Is it worth it?
Be careful out there
Larry "AVA survivor" Osborn