John, you’re like Dr. House. Or Sherlock Holmes! Thanks for that astute conclusion - I think you’ve nailed (bolted? Ha!) down the problem perfectly. I was in contact with Soma, who talked to Nitto, but Nitto asked really elementary questions like, “Is it the right size? Did she install it correctly?” And in in the end, they told me to grease the stem (where it does into steerer) and the bolt threads. That was the end of our correspondence, but I did copy and paste your words and my photos in a new email to Soma today.
I plan to replace this stem when it comes back in stock on Soma, whether Nitto makes this right or not. I just don’t trust my stem anymore, and I’m really disgusted that it chewed up my expensive Nitto aluminum bar. Thanks for this email; truly. Leah Sent from my iPad >> On Jun 26, 2020, at 6:07 AM, 'John Hawrylak' via RBW Owners Bunch >> <rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> wrote: > > Leah > > The pictures of the stem shelf were perfect. Sorry to hear the bolt was too > short. > > The direct cause of the of the circular divot is Nitto drilled the hole for > the Stem Bolt TOO LOW in the stem clamp . The lower stem bolt/hex nut > resulted in the hex nut not being close to the shelf for it's flat to have a > large surface area to resist the turning force of the bolt. The hex nut flat > rotated through the shelf as you tightened the bolt, producing the small > circular divot, resulting in the 'stripped' feeling in you stated in your > original post. > > The stem was not manufactured to the correct tolerances for the stem bolt > hole to stem clap shelf distance. It's useable with a correctly tightened > nut. However, I would recommend perusing a replacement stem via Soma/Nitto > due to the manufacturing problem. Hopefully, Nitto takes this as a 'learning > opportunity' and adjusts their process. > > The gouging on the inside of the stem and bar clamp area is troubling. Most > likely it was due to the bars rotating in the stem clamp due to insufficient > tightening torque resulting from the stem bolt hole problem above. It is > possible Nitto had the gouged in the interior surface of the stem clamp > during manufacture or left foreign material side the stem clamp. > > John Hawrylak > Woodstown NJ > > >> On Friday, June 26, 2020 at 12:25:17 AM UTC-4, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! >> wrote: >> John asked for a photo when I swapped the bolts. I tried that tonight...bolt >> is too short. Sigh. But he asked for photos that show the shelf that the nut >> is supposed to rest against. (I think.) >> >> Here are photos of the area in question. I hope you can see what you were >> looking for because I’m never taking that nut off again. I’m worried I’m >> going to wear it out and it will let me know on my way down Killer Hill. >> >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >>>> On Jun 23, 2020, at 10:32 PM, CB <tuolum...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Aside from BBDD's stem issue, a number have noted that the sleeved bars >>> sometimes creak. I would expect that the sleeve is inflexible when clamped >>> properly in the stem. The bars flex quite a bit, and the flexing may deform >>> the inner bar a tiny bit at the ends of the sleeve and cause the creak. >>> >>> A similar effect might be expected between the stem clamp and bars for >>> non-sleeved bars, but in that case tightening the clamp would reduce the >>> deformation. >>> -- >>> Carl >>> >>>> On June 23, 2020 6:04:56 PM PDT, Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> The stem worked fine on her steel bar, I don't know if it has that burr >>>> mark on it and I think it's long gone now. I don't imagine even my >>>> slightly obsessive bike detective skills are going to ever solve how the >>>> dang thing got in there, but I'd sure like to grab a piece of sandpaper >>>> and knock it down! >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >>> Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/FHIW1F5qAE0/unsubscribe. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >>> rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/C7B77792-357C-4EFB-BD5D-98BFE72DC947%40gmail.com. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google > Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/FHIW1F5qAE0/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5a4bfc2b-de8d-4bd7-abcc-628b49fdc8d3o%40googlegroups.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0F10DBD8-257B-4338-AE21-9DDF68E1DE31%40gmail.com.
