Ritchey Pro

Price Paid:  $30.00 at wiggle

Favorite Ride:
hills

Summary:
13cm length. I find this stem to be too flexable for hard climbing/sprinting but it absorbs road iregularities well

Strengths:
cheap

Weaknesses:
lack of stifness

Similar Products Used:
itm(varius models)

Price Paid:  $40.00 at nashbar.com

Favorite Ride:
any ride is a good ride

Bike Setup:
Fuji Team with full Ultegra

Summary:
Very nice stem for the money. Stiff enough for me and I am not exactly small (6'03 at 185lbs). I bought the MTB version for my Kona and I love that one too!

Strengths:
Great Value!

Weaknesses:
None yet.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Bike Setup:
Ridley Icarus w/ DA 10

Summary:
After talking with another friend who had a bolt strip out while installing a new ritchey pro stem, I thought I should pass along my recent experience. Although, I was careful threading in the bolts, one of the four face bolts used to install the bar stripped out of my stem as well. I then installed a longer bolt and was able to put a lock nut on the back side of the stem for security. Amazingly though when I pushed down hard on the bar to test the set up, a different bolt popped its threads, and the bar came loose. Scary.

I'm not well sure how Ritchey warrantees their products, but I don't think I'll find out because I wouldn't trust a replacement after this experience.

After failing with this and the flexy WCS stem, I guess I'll have to venture out of the value market to look at $100+ stems for something that's light, stiff, and secure, if not cheap.

Strengths:
Cheap, light and stiff.

Weaknesses:
Bolts strip out easily.

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Nashbar

Bike Setup:
LeMond Chambery, Ultegra Gruppo, Mavic Ksyrium SL wheels

Summary:
What can I say? If you think that a stem should be a reliable and light piece of metal that consistantly connects the handlebars to the bike and NOT made of some obscure element that costs as much as a mortgage payment, the Ritchey Pro is for you. Not much more to say. I like this stem. I have never had any problems with slippage or flex. I like the redundancy of 4 plate bolts instead of 2, and the finish is pretty. The opposing stem bolts and offset angle of both the clamp and spacer shim indicate well thought out engineering.

Strengths:
Light, strong, relatively inexpensive.

Similar Products Used:
ITM Mantis, Cinelli, TTT

Price Paid:  $25.00 at ebay

Summary:
I like this stem. I like stems where the stack bolts go all the way through the fitting. Many of the ITM stems have bolts that thread into a dead space and your not sure if you hit the end or not. Thsi stem was plenty solid for me.

Strengths:
Strong, light

Weaknesses:
None