Check your stems...

[ariw]

Found this while transferring kit to a new to me frame. Ritchey wcs, several years old. Anyone replace their stems and handlebars just cause they are old?

Ari

1697867740

[avalonracing]

You didn't notice that until you went to transfer it? Wow. Lucky you found it.
People sometime tease me about keeping my bikes really clean but on of the advantages of this is that you know the condition of your equipment.

[regularguy412]

Found this while transferring kit to a new to me frame. Ritchey wcs, several years old. Anyone replace their stems and handlebars just cause they are old?

Ari



:no::no::no::no::no:
IMHO.

Pix below are of a BRAND NEW Ritchey Pro Peloton pedal that had all of 1/2 mile on the pair. You can still see the blue teflon lubricant still on the spindle, inside the pedal body and some on my sock/leg. You can also see where the big ring gouged my knee. I was lucky not to crash in the middle of the intersection near my house! And lucky no traffic coming either direction, since I was doing circles in the middle of the road trying to stay upright.

I will personally NEVER use anything Ritchey-branded again.

Mike in AR:beer:

[steelbikerider]

I try to replace bars after 3 years. They start to show corrosion that can't be removed even though tape is replaced every 2-3 months, stems go for 5 years. I haven't seen any evidence of damage but why risk it?

[Louis]

Anyone replace their stems and handlebars just cause they are old?

I was thinking about this during my ride today. It's time for me to put some new bar tape on, and because the bars are at least 15 years old I was thinking of swapping them out too. I probably will. They aren't weight-weenie bars, otherwise I assume they might have failed long ago, but there's no sense in pushing my luck too far.

[bloody sunday]

:no::no::no::no::no:
IMHO.

Pix below are of a BRAND NEW Ritchey Pro Peloton pedal that had all of 1/2 mile on the pair. You can still see the blue teflon lubricant still on the spindle, inside the pedal body and some on my sock/leg. You can also see where the big ring gouged my knee. I was lucky not to crash in the middle of the intersection near my house! And lucky no traffic coming either direction, since I was doing circles in the middle of the road trying to stay upright.

I will personally NEVER use anything Ritchey-branded again.

Mike in AR:beer:
your knee went all the way down to the chain ring?

I've broken chains, and even had a whole crank fall completely off the BB and still attached to my foot and not injure myself like that OUCH. glad you're okay and it wasn't in an even worse time like descending.

[toytech]

so, some of my bars and stems are 50-50+ years old, does that mean I should be worried?:p
nasty gouge there! Only pedal I have broken cost me a really badly bruised inner thigh from the top tube but it mx on was a bmx that broke on landing.
OP that stem is scary! looks like a lot of corrosion.

[2wheelwill]

I've only had two things cracked on my bikes over the past 25+ years of cycling - both items where high end Ritchey stems. I gave up on Ritchey stuff a long time ago.

[ariw]

FWIW, this was the underside of the stem, I decided to flip the stem when building the new frame up to get the bars a little lower. I am thinking about using PRO brand bar and stem now, any experience with those?

Ari

[mcteague]

:no::no::no::no::no:
IMHO.

Pix below are of a BRAND NEW Ritchey Pro Peloton pedal that had all of 1/2 mile on the pair. You can still see the blue teflon lubricant still on the spindle, inside the pedal body and some on my sock/leg. You can also see where the big ring gouged my knee. I was lucky not to crash in the middle of the intersection near my house! And lucky no traffic coming either direction, since I was doing circles in the middle of the road trying to stay upright.

I will personally NEVER use anything Ritchey-branded again.

Mike in AR:beer:
One part fails and you tarnish an entire brand? I can see not wanting that model pedal again. Sometimes things break, unless there are lots of stories of similar failures I would not let it sour me to an entire brand.

Tim

[67-59]

Nitto.

[OtayBW]

I had a Ritchey WCS stem fail in an almost identical manner a few years ago - diagonal open crack between binder bolts at the steerer.

[AngryScientist]

wow, interesting. makes me wonder about some of these light weight alloy parts. not a lot of margin built into the design to save grams, thats for sure.

i think it reinforces the idea of really checking a bike over once every few months. spend a sunday evening cleaning and taking a critical look at every component.

glad you caught it before you got hurt, or stuck out on the road.

[echelon_john]

I'm super anal about stems and bars. I'm a big dude, first of all. Second, I had a Modolo stem snap while climbing a hill in a crit when I was in high school; launched over the bars, caught my thigh on the broken off part still in the head tube, came within an inch or so of my femoral artery. Many, many stitches.

It might be overkill, but I ride DH bars on my MTB, mostly Nitto heat treated on the road bikes, with burly stems and forks with steerer tubes I have confidence in.

I don't think it means the entire brand should be damned, (although you won't see me within 10 feet of another Modolo product, not that they're relevant anymore...wonder why!?) rather that periodically removing and cleaning parts and inspecting with a flashlight probably isn't a wasted hour, which doesn't seem like that bad an idea a couple of times a year.

[GregL]

My luck with Ritchey stems has been just the opposite. I have them on 8 of the 9 bikes my family owns. Whether WCS, Pro, or Comp versions, they have all been durable and reliable. I do inspect our bikes regularly and change out bars and stems at approximately 5 year intervals (more often on bikes used under high loads such as our tandem). I have also changed bars and stems after crashes even though the only damage appeared to be cosmetic. Cheap insurance in my book...

- Greg

[false_Aest]

Brah,

It's fine if one swears off an entire brand because of a bad experience.

But one should recognize that we're all guaranteed to get the short end of the stick a few times during life.

Your time might be with a stem or hbar.
Mine was while walking across an intersection.

To feel safe you swear off _____ brand.
To feel safe I swear off walking + old men driving Cadillacs.

[regularguy412]

your knee went all the way down to the chain ring?

I've broken chains, and even had a whole crank fall completely off the BB and still attached to my foot and not injure myself like that OUCH. glad you're okay and it wasn't in an even worse time like descending.

Yes. My knee hit the chain ring.

The whole scenario goes as follows:

I needed new pedals. Thought I'd try to stay with pedals that use Delta-style cleats. After a lot of checking online for pricing, I decided I'd give the Ritchey Pro Peloton model a try.

I got the pedals outta the box, put them on the crank set and stepped out the door. My house is on a bit of a hill, so I basically just have to clip in and push off,,, still sitting on the saddle. I can roll the .2 of a mile down to the main road near my house without pedaling. As I come to that road, there is a slight incline to get up to the highway. I usually am clipped in with both feet by then and roll up to the stop sign. On that day, there was no traffic in either direction ( I can see for a half mile in either direction). Since it's a slight incline up, I stand to take the first pedal stroke. I'm making a left turn, and push down with my right foot. The pedal just comes off the spindle. My right foot hits the ground, knee hits the chainring and my umm, 'wedding equipment' slams the top tube. The CSI starts making circles with decreasing radii in the middle of the intersection -- all the while I'm sitting kinda side-saddle on the top tube with my right foot skating around on the pavement like an outrigger. This all takes place in a matter of seconds. With my foot dragging on the pavement (pedal body still attached to the cleat), the bike finally stops and I can actually stand up off the top tube.

I unclip my left foot and walk the .2 mile back home -- with a slight limp -- both from the encounter with the bicycle and because I can't get the pedal body out of the cleat.

I guess my knee hit the chain ring because when my foot came out and hit the ground, it kinda skewed sideways out from under me. The only place my body weight could go was 'down'. The crazy part is, this was just the beginning of a ride. I was not even pushing hard or trying to sprint. I was just calmly accelerating away from a stop sign.

Upon further inspection of both the 'good' pedal and the one that came apart, there appears to be NO solid method by which the pedal body would stay attached TO the spindle. The part that holds the spindle is just crimped around the end of the spindle. With all other pedal systems I've ever used, there was some type of threading or at least a more substantial amount of metal around the entrance of the spindle/pedal body interface.

IMHO, poor design and/or poor manufacturing quality. Either way and armed with this information, I'll not knowingly put myself in harm's way again by being a crash test dummy for a company with poor standards. As the old saying goes, " Fool me once........". If you read Echelon John's post, he's sworn off Modolo. Can't say as I blame him. It only takes ONCE.




Thanks for the kind words.

Mike in AR

[54ny77]

damn, how old is that stem and you've never seen that big honkin' grand canyon while looking right down at it?

seriously, contact ritchey, send it in to 'em. i' sure they'd be interested in the metallurgy of what went wrong.

[Grant McLean]

damn, how old is that stem and you've never seen that big honkin' grand canyon while looking right down at it?

As was mentioned, the crack is on the underside, not visible looking
down from the top.

-g

[54ny77]

oh, didn't catch that one. man that thing's a doozy.

[Tony]

I've had no problems with any of their products over the 25+ years of cycling.
Have Ritchey WCS bar and stem combo on two bikes, all purchased 2001 and all still going strong with much use. From pedals to seat posts all still doing the job. Also their customer service is excellent. I was talked into a wider bar when I purchased my C111 from a bike shop in Santa Cruz. After riding for a month on those bars I decided to call Ritchey and ask if I could swap them out for a used pair more my size. He sent me new bars and even threw in a cool blue and white Ritchey tape measure and a bottle opener!

[OtayBW]

I had a Ritchey WCS stem fail in an almost identical manner a few years ago - diagonal open crack between binder bolts at the steerer.

I found the old stem:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j42/zelmo_2006/RitcheyStem1.jpg (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/zelmo_2006/media/RitcheyStem1.jpg.html)

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j42/zelmo_2006/RitcheyStem2.jpg (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/zelmo_2006/media/RitcheyStem2.jpg.html)

[Tony]

Quote:
Originally Posted by OtayBW View Post
I had a Ritchey WCS stem fail in an almost identical manner a few years ago - diagonal open crack between binder bolts at the steerer.

I don't see a crack?

[regularguy412]

I found the old stem:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j42/zelmo_2006/RitcheyStem1.jpg (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/zelmo_2006/media/RitcheyStem1.jpg.html)

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j42/zelmo_2006/RitcheyStem2.jpg (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/zelmo_2006/media/RitcheyStem2.jpg.html)

Not sure that's a crack. Oval Concepts used a similar design -- supposedly to reduce the stress on the stem and steerer tube.

I have an Oval on my fixie/ss. The angle of the cut on the Oval does not appear to be quite as pronounced as the Ritchey version.

Mike in AR:beer:

[witcombusa]

Found this while transferring kit to a new to me frame. Ritchey wcs, several years old. Anyone replace their stems and handlebars just cause they are old?
Ari

1697867740


No

But I do regularly inspect the parts. I ride stuff going back into the 60's.

Agree with the prior post about trying to save grams just not being worth it for most people and especially folks over the 170 pound mark.

Never had any problems with anything high end Ritchey either.

[buddybikes]

Had a Ritchey WCS stem that broke at a bolt when mounting.

[OtayBW]

Not sure that's a crack. Oval Concepts used a similar design -- supposedly to reduce the stress on the stem and steerer tube.

I have an Oval on my fixie/ss. The angle of the cut on the Oval does not appear to be quite as pronounced as the Ritchey version.

Mike in AR:beer:

Yeah - I hear you. Only thing that I can say is that after riding it for a long time with no problem, that gap opened up to the point where it couldn't be closed at with the bolts fully engaged and torqued correctly. Not sure what happened, but I actually did replace it with an Oval of that ~same design and have not had a problem.

[regularguy412]

Yeah - I hear you. Only thing that I can say is that after riding it for a long time with no problem, that gap opened up to the point where it couldn't be closed at with the bolts fully engaged and torqued correctly. Not sure what happened, but I actually did replace it with an Oval of that ~same design and have not had a problem.

WOW!

Good on ya!

Mike in AR:beer:

[John H.]

Did your headset stay in adjustment?
I had a Pedal Force brand stem that developed a similar crack (also unknown to me).
My headset kept coming loose- tightening the bolts would just spread the crack. It was at a stage race. During the last stage my bars started to turn on their own. I would come out of a corner, bars were not straight anymore. Went to the pit. They tightened it down. It kept happening but I was able to get through the stage.
I thought that I had stripped the bolt or something- did not really think about it until I was cleaning the bike after my trip. Then I discovered a crack just like yours!

[54ny77]

hey, I resemble that remark. ;)


Agree with the prior post about trying to save grams just not being worth it for most people and especially folks over the 170 pound mark.

[bigbill]

I had a WCS stem fail when I lived in Hawaii. I had hit a concrete seam that was about 1/2" and noticed that my bars had turned. When I got back to the park I put my front wheel up against the bumper and turned against it and the stem rotated on the steerer pretty easily. I found a crack underneath much like the OP. I'm not sworn off Ritchey but it made me thorough when I check my bikes. Even though it might have occurred when I hit the concrete seam, about 15 minutes earlier I had done a 45 mph descent off Makapu'u.

[mossman]

what torque?

[OtayBW]

what torque?

5 nM for mine, and to a previous question, no - the headset was just loosey goosey.

[kgreene10]

FWIW, this was the underside of the stem, I decided to flip the stem when building the new frame up to get the bars a little lower. I am thinking about using PRO brand bar and stem now, any experience with those?

Ari

Ari, the Pro carbon bars (not sure if they were the UD bars or the previous generation from 1-2 years ago) faced a recall in Australia due to spontaneous breakage. They haven't been recalled in the US, but a couple of months back they were all on deep discount. That says nothing about their aluminum bars, which may be perfectly fine.

[buldogge]

I like the Pro PLT alloy stuff...nice balance of weight and price (cheap). I also like that the bars come in trad round bend!

-Mark in St. Louis

Ari, the Pro carbon bars (not sure if they were the UD bars or the previous generation from 1-2 years ago) faced a recall in Australia due to spontaneous breakage. They haven't been recalled in the US, but a couple of months back they were all on deep discount. That says nothing about their aluminum bars, which may be perfectly fine.

[Louis]

I found the old stem

Don't play with your food! :p

[Peter P.]

I'm not specifically trying to bash Ritchey products, but my older Ritchey ATB stem has only 2 bolts for the handlebar clamp. I notice ALL current Ritchey road and ATB stems use a 4 bolt handlebar clamp. I wonder if they know something they're not telling the consumers?

I think the 4 bolt design is safer because while I don't know if it's necessarily stronger, in theory it should give you an earlier warning should a crack develop but well before stem failure.

Thanks to ariw for the heads up. I read the thread then checked all 3 of my Ritchey stems and from now on will periodically eyeball the undersides.

[makmadoosel]

I probably err on the side of too much time cleaning, not enough riding, but a good thorough cleaning and polishing has helped me find three of my own cracked frames, two cracked cranks and a cracked seatpost before real disaster struck.

[pbarry]

I'm not specifically trying to bash Ritchey products, but my older Ritchey ATB stem has only 2 bolts for the handlebar clamp. I notice ALL current Ritchey road and ATB stems use a 4 bolt handlebar clamp. I wonder if they know something they're not telling the consumers?

I think the 4 bolt design is safer because while I don't know if it's necessarily stronger, in theory it should give you an earlier warning should a crack develop but well before stem failure.

Thanks to ariw for the heads up. I read the thread then checked all 3 of my Ritchey stems and from now on will periodically eyeball the undersides.

Is your ATB stem for 1" bars? Almost every manufacturer used two bolt clamps for 1" and 26.0 bars, then went to the four bolt design for 31.8.

[ariw]

I haven't abandoned Ritchey because of this, just checking out some alternatives. This may also be an issue that there is nothing wrong with the product, if you are under a certain weight. The WCS line is very light, but I am hovering just under 180lbs, and was over 200 at this time last year. The extra 20-40 grams makes sense for me, but maybe not for someone smaller.

-Ari

[NJC]

Relative to the original question regarding replacing stems based on age, a customer support person at Thomson suggested that I, as a 265 pound clyde, should replace my cockpit parts every 2-3 years

[rwsaunders]

Jack Brunk says no to Ritchey so I'm taking his advice.

[bicycletricycle]

Nitto.

Yes

[Don49]

Found this cracked faceplate on a Thomson Elite today. Stem is on a XC 29er MTB, carbon bar, torqued to 5.5NM, no big air or crashes. When I google it, apparently cracked Thomson faceplates are a known issue.