# Aluminium Mountain Bike Stem



## Jecheon (Jan 11, 2014)

Hello All,

I thought I'd share some photos of my first proper lathe/mill project.  It isn't perfect but I'm quite pleased with the outcome and is now in use fitted to my mountain bike.  

I hope it's of interest.

Pete


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## Bill Gruby (Jan 11, 2014)

I see nothing wrong. Looks good.

 "Billy G"


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## xalky (Jan 11, 2014)

It came out very nice. A little artsy too. )


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## Philco (Jan 11, 2014)

Jecheon, that's a great job & a good looking part. The more I look at it, it looks like it will even make the bike go faster!
Phil


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## melsdad (Jan 11, 2014)

That is a great looking part for manual machineing! Are you going to anodized it?

sent from my hand held hickymajig


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## JoeSixPack74 (Jan 12, 2014)

Looks great do you have any pictures of it installed?


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## Ray C (Jan 12, 2014)

Yeah, let's see it installed.  -Looks great BTW....

Ray


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## Jecheon (Jan 13, 2014)

Thanks for the comments.   I'm going to get it anodised black, but want to give it a good try out first.  So far it has just been around the block a few times, but it is going to get truly tested down a hill in North Wales this weekend.


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## Bill Gruby (Jan 13, 2014)

Extremely impressive.

 "Billy G"


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jan 14, 2014)

really impressive, looks solid as a rock too! If anywhere is going to find a weakness, it'll be Wales  I wouldn't hang back on anodising it though, as mud and sweat'll make that look grotty pretty quickly. If you have a bench power supply, it isn't too hard to do it yourself and you can buy the dyes on eBay for not much.


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## melsdad (Jan 14, 2014)

One other question. Did you use helicoils in the threads?


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## Jecheon (Jan 14, 2014)

No, I cut them with a tap.  I figured I'd use a helicoil if it felt like the tapped thread didn't seem up to the job, but it felt pretty solid when I tightened it up.


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## melsdad (Jan 14, 2014)

They should be fine if you have them set and don't have to adjust all the time. The stem looks great mounted on the bike by the way!

What bike do you ride?


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## David S (Jan 14, 2014)

I always use anti seize compound when using threaded fasteners in aluminum to minimize galling.


David


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## cascao (Jan 14, 2014)

You need a custom stem cap to match!


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## Jecheon (Jan 14, 2014)

cascao said:


> You need a custom stem cap to match!




I hadn't though of it, but you're right, I do!

- - - Updated - - -



melsdad said:


> They should be fine if you have them set and don't have to adjust all the time. The stem looks great mounted on the bike by the way!
> 
> What bike do you ride?




It's a Kona Abra Cadabra.


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## 283v8 (Jan 18, 2014)

very nice - form AND function - I love that..


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