Poor man’s wanna be titanium stem

[duff_duffy]

I just can’t bring myself to spend hundreds on a titanium stem. Here is a cheaper alternative I discovered. By a Used Deda zero100 silver stem, get some nail polish remover and magic eraser, 10 minutes later almost a dead ringer for titanium in certain light (brushed, not bead blast). Very faint ghosting of logos that looks cool to me. Looks good with logos as well and then you can use as is, but without logos looks better to me. Could not get logo off until I used magic eraser and it came right off.

[tuscanyswe]

Looks good, how bout a close up?

[R3awak3n]

might be an unpopular opinion BUT I think you can get a nicer looking stem by using aluminum than TI. Not that TI stems are bad looking and there are some really nice ones but you can get nicer more svelt shapes with alum. That looks great btw (and best seat post ever)

[duff_duffy]

Here you go!

Looks good, how bout a close up?

[duff_duffy]

The seatpost has traveled with me across 4-5 bikes now, the Record ones are really nice! This shows the faint Deda logo

[Hikyle2]

nice work around, I've been watching ebay for a ti stem that I feel confident in getting for years. Clearly I'm just not ready to spend the money.

[Tony]

Looks Like Ti! Nice job.

[happycampyer]

I think Deda refers to that finish as "dark metal polish." Nice looking stems, and they do go well with ti.

[old-school]

Merlin Cyrene, oh well:crap:

[sonicCows]

It's hard to find things that match the nice finish on the stem but titanium definitely works. I have one too and it looks off with my more colorful bikes.

[Blue Jays]

Dang, that is a really good color match for titanium!

[tuscanyswe]

Looks good

My experience is that even tho the "shade" of grey is the same its very hard to get the same shine and luster as ti so in certain lights it will clearly look very different.

Is this so with this one aswell? Looks to me like it perhaps could be abit more shiny than the frame?

[Brusselsprouts]

Looks really good!

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[duff_duffy]

Depends on lighting, in certain lights it matches quite well - other times it reflects light bit differently but still looks good (unlike chrome or polished stems that shine way to much). The frame has not been cleaned up in a while but could get it to shine with a bit of elbow grease, I had same stem on Seven before that had slightly different sheen to titanium (still brushed finish) and it matched even better.

Again, poor man’s titanium! I thought I was going to use a different seatpost but I really like the titanium one on this and like to match my stem/seatpost. Have my eye out for a 100mm titanium stem should one come up but just can’t locate one for my Covid budget right now.

Looks good

My experience is that even tho the "shade" of grey is the same its very hard to get the same shine and luster as ti so in certain lights it will clearly look very different.

Is this so with this one aswell? Looks to me like it perhaps could be abit more shiny than the frame?

[fmradio516]

to me, it looks like the stem matches the frame better than the actual ti seatpost. bravo! I have one of these as well, thinking of doing the same.

[soulspinner]

:hello:

[mulp]

looks good, thanks for sharing!

[teleguy57]

My experience is that it all depends on the exact stem (I've had a couple dark metal polish ones in the same length with just-so-slightly different tones) and the finish on the ti frame. One worked pretty well, the other not quite so much. I ended up feeling like iboth was too close but note close enough, if you know what I mean, and went with matte black. Maybe some time I'll commission a custom ti stem, but I like what I have.

I have two different Moots posts, each custom brushed by two different framebuilders to match their respective brushed frame finishes. Interestingly, they both look good on my Alliance!

[duff_duffy]

One of these days I want to go all out and get a ti stem and then mirror polish the entire frame, stem, seatpost. I don’t care about fingerprints and scratches showing, just want mirror polish with the engravings popping out. Got a few quotes to do it and very very expensive. Someday...probably one of those irrational thoughts that may yield a result that does not live up to my expectations. My first real bike was chrome, maybe it stems from that. For now, will stick with the almost a matching poor mans titanium stem.

[djg21]

I like stiff stems and the Ti stems I tried (albeit decades ago on an early Merlin) were really noodley. I think a black stem looks better with a Ti frame too.

[bigbill]

I've got one of those and they're a great stem. I'd recommend changing the hardware, the stock fasteners will rust.

[tuscanyswe]

One of these days I want to go all out and get a ti stem and then mirror polish the entire frame, stem, seatpost. I don’t care about fingerprints and scratches showing, just want mirror polish with the engravings popping out. Got a few quotes to do it and very very expensive. Someday...probably one of those irrational thoughts that may yield a result that does not live up to my expectations. My first real bike was chrome, maybe it stems from that. For now, will stick with the almost a matching poor mans titanium stem.

Thats sound like it could be pretty neat. Have not seen anything like that.

[teleguy57]

I like stiff stems and the Ti stems I tried (albeit decades ago on an early Merlin) were really noodley. I think a black stem looks better with a Ti frame too.

Stiffness -- yes. That's why I mentioned custom. I'm running Deda Trentacinque bars/stem and I love the hearty feel of the 35mm "standard." Would need someone to do a one-off as I'm not aware of ti stems that go beyond the usual 31.8mm diameter.

[jtbadge]

My experience is that it all depends on the exact stem (I've had a couple dark metal polish ones in the same length with just-so-slightly different tones) and the finish on the ti frame. One worked pretty well, the other not quite so much. I ended up feeling like iboth was too close but note close enough, if you know what I mean, and went with matte black.

contrast is important