Technomic Deluxe stems are forged. Non-deluxe stems are cast. At least that's my understanding.
I highly doubt that many companies are looking to move into the higher- end quill stem market. Aside from Riv, the only bikes that need those stems in any numbers are old bikes. From the industry standpoint: if somebody is riding some old bike, it is unlikely that they are gonna pay $50+ for a replacement stem. Look at the dwindling variety of threaded headsets. It's considered a dying, if not dead market. On Oct 7, 2:35 pm, Phil Brown <philcyc...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Oct 7, 12:12 pm, Seth Vidal <skvi...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 3:10 PM, newenglandbike <matthiasbe...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > Regarding Nitto, I think it would be prohibitively costly for an > > > American company to acquire the tooling necessary for forging stems, > > > etc... Well, maybe prohibitive is not the right word-- what I mean > > > is unattractive from a business standpoint. > > > > On the other hand, there ARE great companies right here in the U.S. > > > who machine fine aluminum products, for example Super Rat Machine > > > works: > > > >http://www.superratmachine.com/ > > > > Super Rat Machine Works was started by Phil Wasson, an insanely > > > talented BMX rider once associated with the (also Made-in-USA) frame > > > company called FBM. SRM makes very good parts. > > > I'm confused - in the earlier riv readers I thought I had read that > > riv had paid for the tooling for some of the specific parts they > > wanted. Why can't those be transferred to another manufacturer? Or > > maybe I'm misremembering. > > > -sv > > First, if we're talking about stems machining is a poor way to go > about it. Forging provides the best grain alignment. > And tooling is typically machine dependent and it's unlikely that 2 > companies would have the same machinery. > Phil Brown --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
