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 <dartley@co.ba.md.us> 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