Re: [CR] death stem? px-10

How much you should worry depends on your level of carefulness/paranoia. The so-called AVA "Death Stem" was one of the "faux-lugged" French stems of the late 60's/early 70's. These were alloy, but made to look as if they were lugged. The most magligned one had a hollow stem extension open at the back, such that you could look through the back of the stem and see the quill bolt inside. These stems were sold marked with at least a half dozen different French brands. I'm convinced that a single company made them for all the companies that sold them, and I doubt seriously they were actually made by AVA. So if yo are going to avoid AVA stems you should also avoid all other French stems of this type. Personally, I consider the "Death Stem" stuff paranoia, although I admit the one with the hollow extension would maybe fail more easily than others.

I ride these stem routinely and have never had a problem. Now, because of the long toptubes on the old French bikes, I often ride a stem of this type of 70mm or even 60 mm, which probably helps. A 120mm stem might fail more easily.

The AVA bars were a different story. They definitely did fail, often beginning with hairline cracks running the length of the bars. I have removed such cracked AVA bars before they failed. I still ride such bars, but they should be checked regularly for cracks. This is a bit difficult when the bars are taped, but a "droop" on one side is a sign of trouble.

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Big Spring,Texas, USA