My Stem cracked

[topcat1]

Yesterday morning on my commute i noticed that my bars had slipped forward, it was dark so i couldn't see what was wrong.

Today i rode in and had a look at work

i don't know what has caused the face plate to crack

i actually rode home (filling my pants) and i've now changed the stem.

The forks are ok but should i change the handle bars?

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Lucky escape that man. May I respectfully suggest the cause as overtightening?

Did you check the torque of your new stem with a torque wrench?

 

[Browser]

Lucky escape that man. May I respectfully suggest the cause as overtightening?

Did you check the torque of your new stem with a torque wrench?

Ditto the above. SOmething I am always guilty of is, ahem, overtorquing bicycle bolts/screws and of course I always use a torque wrench

 

[topcat1]

Thanks guys, looks like i'll be ordering a torque wrench then.

 

[ianrauk]

looks nasty D.. bit lucky there mate...

 

[TheDoctor]

Ruddy heck!! Definately a lucky escape.
Still, it could have let go down Ditchling Beacon. Or when you were riding next to me...
Is it a superlight blingy stem?

 

[HLaB]

Lucky escape that man. May I respectfully suggest the cause as overtightening?

Did you check the torque of your new stem with a torque wrench?

I did exactly that by Over-tightening so I went out and bought a torque wrench.

 

[MajorMantra]

Just for kicks, I googled.

Seems you are not alone!

Matthew

 

[kyuss]

Just for kicks, I googled.

Seems you are not alone!

Matthew

Damn, I didn't need to read that. I run a Thomson X2 on the good bike.

 

[Mr Pig]

May I respectfully suggest the cause as overtightening?

Yip, first thing I thought when I saw the picture. It's worth getting it into your head that aluminium is actually quite soft.

Although having said that it could be a badly shaped face plate.

 

[02GF74]

post it off to thompson and ask for some sort of recompsnese - at the very least, they should be made aware of a potential fault. even overtightenting shouldn;t cause that, ofcrouse depends on how much overtightened - I reckon a good design would mean you strip the threads on the bolts or stem prior to the campl cracking.

 

[kyuss]

post it off to thompson and ask for some sort of recompsnese - at the very least, they should be made aware of a potential fault.

I'd agree with that. Considering the amount of material involved I'd have though a bar would fail long before a stem would, even taking overtightening into consideration.

 

[Mr Pig]

I'd have though a bar would fail long before a stem would, even taking overtightening into consideration.

I agree with both posters above. I have a stem on the shed that came off a mate's bike. The threads are stripped but the face plate is intact. It looks to me like the face plate has had the wrong radius on it or something like that which has caused it to be stressed.