Any problems with Ritchey Pro stem?

[kevinvc]

I'm dialing in the fitting on a new bike and want to try out a shorter stem. A friend has a Ritchey Pro that he's willing to let me borrow for a couple of rides, but I was told by some other guys that they are notorious for having the bolts strip out, often during a ride. One guy in particular says he knows someone (this is a 4th hand story by now) who had one fail in the middle of a fast gravel descent and crashed pretty hard. I did some research and saw several bad reviews on-line.

I don't think a few hours of use is much of a risk but it got me wondering about the product itself. I've always had good luck with Ritchey and use a WCS stem and seat post on one of my bikes. Anyone here had a problem with them? My lbs recommends them as the good performance option for folks who don't want to pay Thomson level pricing.

[dave thompson]

I use (and have used) Ritchie stems on most of my bikes with no issues. I use a Ritchey Torque Key for all bolts on the stem.

[velotrack]

Good experience all around from me, from the lowest end to superlogic stuff. Zero problems.

[Idris Icabod]

I have a pair of Ritchey monocurve bars I think they are called, the one piece bar and stem combination. The stem bolts supplied I think were 3 mm allen (they were tiny) that rounded out when torqued down to the recommended value, Ritchey sent me some Torx headed bolts to replace them. So a minor problem that the guy from Ritchey that I spoke with said that they were now using Torx on the new shipments to solve the issue.

[Llewellyn]

I've used Ritchey stems, bars and seatposts for years. Never had a problem. My first choice.

Great products

[Gummee]

good experience all around from me, from the lowest end to superlogic stuff. Zero problems.

+1

m

[oldpotatoe]

I'm dialing in the fitting on a new bike and want to try out a shorter stem. A friend has a Ritchey Pro that he's willing to let me borrow for a couple of rides, but I was told by some other guys that they are notorious for having the bolts strip out, often during a ride. One guy in particular says he knows someone (this is a 4th hand story by now) who had one fail in the middle of a fast gravel descent and crashed pretty hard. I did some research and saw several bad reviews on-line.

I don't think a few hours of use is much of a risk but it got me wondering about the product itself. I've always had good luck with Ritchey and use a WCS stem and seat post on one of my bikes. Anyone here had a problem with them? My lbs recommends them as the good performance option for folks who don't want to pay Thomson level pricing.

Poppy cock...I sold maybe 300 or so and never saw any issue with them.

[kevinvc]

Thanks for all the feedback. The whole thing smelled of an internet "My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid..." type of story.

I've been happy with my Ritchey products in the sense that I've put them on my bike and have been completely unaware of them ever since. Thomson stuff looks great and I've got a couple of seatposts that came on the used bikes when I bought them, but I personally can't justify shelling out the extra money just for the bling factor. That's not meant to be judgmental of folks who are willing and able to pay a premium for what they like (see carbon bottle cage thread for reference), just saying that I'm not in that situation.

Cheers!

[Veloo]

I don't have the Pro but I do have 3 Classic stems - 110, 120 and 130. All came from different authorized retailers. The bolts for the 120 seemed to have allen/ hex heads that were rounding compared to the 110 and 130 - ie., my allen key would get stuck in there and I'd have to give it a little twist counter clockwise to remove it. I do use the Park torque wrenches TW-1 and -2 whenever I do any repairs/ maintenance so I wasn't over doing it.

The bolts on the other stems felt a lot more solid. Seemed pretty weird to me. Otherwise, no other issues.

[tiretrax]

I read some reviews lately, but I have never had a problem in 10 years of using them.