Richard.
Milremo was a brand name shared by Ron Kitching in the UK and Andre Bertin in France. They had a lot of different products private labeled for both companies. They also had items made for their specific markets.
I suspect that Milremo was a contraction of Milan and San Remo.
If you are talking about the cast aluminum stems with the molded in faux lugs and red painted highlights, those were probably made in France by Phillipe.
I've usually considered Milremo and Phillipe cast stems a little better quality than most of the other makes but I've seen junk stems from them too.
Millions of bikes were sold with similar cast aluminum stems. During the bike boom there were quite a few stems made with poor quality castings which resulted in the "death stem" reputation.
Pivo is the brand that I've seen with the most amount of quality issues but the late Sheldon Brown singled out AVA cast stems.
I've only seen and experienced failures in cast aluminum stems near the bottom of the quill where the expander slot ends. Cracks can form there and spread around the circumference of the quill until it breaks off leaving you holding the unattached bars and stem.
Some suggestions if you want to used one of these old style cast aluminum stems:
Inspect the stem very carefully especially where the expander slot or slots end.
If you find any cracks or even something that looks like it may crack, don't use it.
Don't use a stem with voids or blow holes in the casting.
Don't use a stem that has the hollow portions out of round from the outside diameters. This will leave one side with a thin weakened wall.
Take a drill, file or burr and round out the end of the expansion split to help prevent cracking due to stress risers from the sharp corners in the cut.
Do a search on "death stem" in the archives for more info and opinions.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
r cielec wrote:
>
> Can anyone provide me with information about Milremo stems? I am aware Milremo was Ron Kitching (sp?) house brand and the stems were cast aluminum. That's about the entirety of my knowledge.
>
> Since the stems were cast aluminum, are they safe to use? By default for being cast, do they fall into the "Death Stem" category?
>
> What is the quality of Milremo stems?
>
> Etc...?
>
> I think they are pretty and I am considering one for a project but, if there are safety or quality issues then, some deliberation is called-for.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Richard Cielec
> Chicago, Illinois; U.S.A.