Bike Setup: Merlin Xtralight, w/ less and less US-made content every time yet another US made component fails. Again.
Summary: It WAS beautiful. It WAS relatively stiff. It WAS expensive.
It SNAPPED like a twig when I got up out of the saddle to climb up the incline by my house.
IF you prefer not to suffer through a crash and its aftereffects because your stem breaks clean off, leaving you w/ a handful of handlebars but no front wheel control, don't -I repeat - don't buy this product. If you do buy it, and if you're lucky, you might just survive to regret it.
Strengths: At least it WAS beautiful...
Weaknesses: Need I say more?
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Summary: The Ibis Ti stem is an extremely well made, light stem. The craftsmanship is superb.
Nary a problem, ever. I too weigh about 180 and I can't make mine bend so I guess I'll have to hit the weights... Noodley? Who is kidding whom?
Strengths: Strength Vs. weight; crafsmanship
Weaknesses: should name etched rather than decals.
Similar Products Used: all the usual suspects
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Summary: I am 180 lbs., not big and not small, but this stem, as well as the mtn. version I owned, were the most detremental and under performing pieces of expensive equipment I've ever owned. At first I raved about them, simply because I paid so much money and I didn't want to seem like an idiot for doing so. But, my climbing times and split interval times on some very steep sections in the local mts. suffered severly. I could actually twist the bars and bend the stem from side to side when I was hammering a climb on the road bike. The mtn. bike seemed to have a mind of its own on hard fast decents. It was kind of scary that I trusted my life for almost a year to these noodly handlebar holders.
Once I switched back to a 153 gram aluminum Deda and a Race Face, my problems went away. My times for the climbs immediately improved about 15% better over the same 7 mile climb. I recently sold both of the stems to someone just like I was that insisted they were the best and had to have them...if you wait a few months, maybe you could but them off of him. Save the cash and get something stiff and just as light at about 1/3 the cost that the pro's actually ride! (by the way, the road stem was 120mm long and weighed 148g. and the mtn. was 130mm and weighed 167g. I paid severly with performance, time and money for the the 3 grams I saved with the road stem!)
Strengths: Looks cool and pretty light.
Weaknesses: single bolt on fork, not nearly as light as claimed, about as stiff as a wet noodle
Similar Products Used: Deda Newton
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Summary: Sure, this stem is light, but there are alot of stems on the market that are light that are ALOT less expensive. I bought this stem for one reason - looks. And in that department it beats all other stems I've seen. Flawless, brushed-out welds and a mirror ti polish.
Of course, looks without function don't mean anything. But this stem does all I require a stem to do. It holds the handlebars in place and helps point me in the right direction. As far as shock absorbtion benefits from a ti stem - who's to say? There are so many other factors that go into that (tire pressure, wheel type, etc.), that it's difficult to tell whether there's any marked increase in shock absorbtion from this stem.
This stem is for the person looking for a little jewel to show off their bike. It's for the person who wants to make their bike a little lighter and alot more expensive.
I wouldn't recommend it as one of the first upgrades of a bike. If you're still riding around on heavy wheels buy a nice light set of wheels before you invest in a light stem. The gains in performance of a nice wheelset are much higher than the performance gains of a nice stem. I would consider a stem as being close to the last on my sequence of upgrading parts on a bike.
There are tons of other stems that will do the same thing for a lot less money, but none will look so good doing it as the Ibis. If you've got the money and have upgraded more important things first, buy one!
Strengths: Light weight. Looks.
Weaknesses: Price. Did see one snap on some guy's bike while simply pulling away from a stop - but no problems for me so far.
Similar Products Used: TTT
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Bike Setup: cannondale/kenesis fork...shimano groupo...thomson,serfas,profile aero setup...king wheels (coming soon...)
Summary: you can't buy a better stem in terms of both beauty and function - very secure clamping areas, super stiff, super light...sure its spendy, but so are your $180 sidis, your king headset, your heliums wheels, etc...buy it and it'll be the last stem you own (you'll even want one for your mt.bike too...)
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