Excellent points made by Bob Hovey on the advantages of wedge-based stems.
I have a 1977-1980 Carlton Clubman (or Pro-Am) bicycle with a ripple in back of the steerer tube. There is no evidence anywhere else in the top-tube, downtube, or forks of a crash , (no wrinkling of paint or bend when sighting along the tubes), but I was always wondering what caused this ripple. On the flip side, however, the bike came with an SR custom stem with a wedge, and I think that the wedge-based stem is original.
I have been collecting SR Royal parts for a similar bicycle, and I noticed that early SR Royal stems used expanders, while laters ones used wedges for the stem.
Why were the wedges always made of steel? it seems nonsensical to make one side of the wedge of aluminum, and the other side out of steel, and the wedge looks chunky enough that it could be made of aluminum.
Does anyone know a source of aluminum wedges for my ALAN light bike?
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA