New Custom Titanium Stems !

Over my long career of building bikes, I have built my share of custom stems, both out of steel and titanium. I am really excited to be building my new titanium stems with the help of my friend Mark Norstad of Paragon machine works. Mark builds the finest titanium bicycle parts available in the world , really! He machines both ends of the stem and the cap. These stems are built totally different than any stem I have built before, and maybe no one else has ever built stems this way. The entire stem is water cooled during the entire welding process, along with the argon purging, This actually allows a much better welding joint and totally minimizes any welding distortion, which is the main reason I did this. It is crucial to have perfectly round clamps for the steer tube and the handle bar. Any distortion could be the beginning of the end for a carbon bar or steer tube, so perfectly round is good! More stories on the stem to come, thanks !