Jim Stem: 4-Bolt / Face Plate CrMo steel

Covid-related supply challenges with NITTO and skyrocketing demand that increased lead times from as little as a month to as much as a year and a half...had us scrambling for a backup stem, and this one is everything we wanted. We collaborated on it with Jim Porter of Merry Sales/SOMA. He calls it the Heron stem, we call it the Jim Stem.

It's perfect for any bar with a 25.4mm or 31.8mm clamp, and gets the bars as high as a Tallux, but with a shorter quill (190mm vs 225mm) because it rises at a 120-degree angle.

The clamp is one of those 4-bolt face-platers that lets you remove the front plate and swap handlebars without removing the stuff on it. It saves about 30 minutes and eliminates all frustration. 

It doesn't look as slick as a NITTO forged aluminum stem. Welded stems just don't. But for hillibikes with Bosco, Tosco, Losco, or Billie bars (bars that sweep back far), a four-bolt stem simply holds them better. And on any bike that  you think you might switch bars a few times, by all means get a 4-bolt face plater.

This 4-bolter Jim Stem doesn't look as luscious as the 4-bolter NITTO, but it looks good enough for us on any of our bikes, costs $40 less, and we probably have it in stock. And it passes the toughest ISO mountain bike stem tests.

Compatible with 1" threaded headsets and 1" threaded forks.

– TIG-welded CrMo steel
– 190mm quill with 22.2mm OD (min. insertion line is at 80mm)
– 25.4mm or 31.8mm bar clamp
– Angle: 20°
– Extensions: 80, 100, 120mm
– Satin nickel finish.

HOW TIGHT THE BOLTS?

Four-bolters require more intelligence and conscientiousness than one-bolters. They're not for haphazard-type rookies or unscientific hippies who figure oh, Rivendell sells it, that means an adult can't wreck it. 

Please use them with a torque wrench, and for the actual specs, you can covert newton-meters to foot-pounds online.

5-6nm per bolt

Here's a tool.

Stem Weights are as follows: