I've never had one fail, although I'm sure some do, as do some Cinelli and TTT stems. It would seem SOMEONE must have experienced such a failure, or perhaps heard rumors of such failures, else where did this "death stem" thing come from? Unless the Cinelli and TTT marketing boys just manufactured the whole thing to trash the competition.
Funny thing, one of the most spectacular failures of an aluminum structure, in which most of the top of an Aloha Ailines jetliner tore away in mid-flight some years ago, is absolutely undisputed and exhaustively documented. Yet no one speaks of "death planes" and the incident didn't seem to scare people away from flying, at least not for long.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
oroboyz@aol.com wrote: ...do they fail? Anyone? Anyone? Ferris? Ferris Bueller?
Dale Brown Greensboro, NC USA
-----Original Message----- From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos To: Howard Darr ; Daniel Artley ; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 05:52:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: [CR]Re: Stems that look like pivo but share hollowed extension.
This is a common variation of the type of stem we are talking about. You're right, the end behind the entry of the expander bolt could be closed or open, and the bar clamp could be in front of or below the bars. Most of these variations could be found marked AVA, Pivo, or other brands, or no brand at all. I still suspect one firm, possibly one we've never heard of, made these for all the companies that marketed them. I think these get blamed on AVA in the US only because Peugeot was the biggest selling French bike in the US, and most of these Peugeots had AVA-marked stems. I think it is likely that AVA did not make these stems.
BTW, while I've had AVA bars crack, I've never had any failures with the type of stem we are discussinng. While any alloy stem, or any alloy component for that matter, can fail, I think the talk of "death stems" is wildly exagerrated. I'm about as worried about being injured by one of these stems as I am about being struck by lightning. Either could happen, neither is likely.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
Howard Darr wrote:
My stem in question has a closed end where the stem bolt goes through
but is
hollow, as opposed to an open end. It also has the bolt for the
handlebar
in front of the bar instead of underneath it . There is no pivo or ava
markings. The extension is about 100 mm. What say the esteemed group,
go
or no go?
> As I said earlier, These old "faux lugged" alloy stems by AVA, Pivo
and
> others, look so much alike to me that I suspect a single manufacturer
made
> them all for the various companies. Don't know why AVA takes most of
the
> grief. Maybe because they were best know in America through the
> AVA-marked stems on the Peugeot PX-10. Pivot did make a model that
looked
> a little different, which has a "bulge" near the top of the expander
bolt,
> i.e it is thicker in that area. Maybe that was an area where earlier
> models had failed.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
>
> Daniel Artley wrote:
> All this talk of the AVA death stems reminds me of Pivo stems that
look
> almost identical, yet I never hear anything about them. Are they much
> more reliable and as collectible? I've got at least one in the parts
> bins. I've always thought they were nice looking stems, but most of my
> really old stems are too short a reach for me anymore.
>
> Dan Artley in Parkton, MD