Haven't been able to ride since June 24th and when I went out to grab my Ripmo V2 today the front wheel just flopped around. I was like "WTH!" Looked at the stem and saw it was cracked at both stem bolts. This stem was properly torqued to 7-9nm and has been on the bike since it was built in Sept. 2022. Anyone ever experienced something like this?
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Industry Nine Stem Cracked in 2 places
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Chris442
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Haven't been able to ride since June 24th and when I went out to grab my Ripmo V2 today the front wheel just flopped around. I was like "WTH!" Looked at the stem and saw it was cracked at both stem bolts. This stem was properly torqued to 7-9nm and has been on the bike since it was built in Sept. 2022. Anyone ever experienced something like this?
![Image]()
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1,337 Posts
That sucks bigly. How much do you trust your torque wrench?
But that failure mechanism is weird. I'd think the threads would fail on the bolts before it would break like it did. I really don't care for the crappy stainless bolts they ship with these stems.
Interested to hear what they have to say about it for sure. I have a whole bunch of these kicking around.
But that failure mechanism is weird. I'd think the threads would fail on the bolts before it would break like it did. I really don't care for the crappy stainless bolts they ship with these stems.
Interested to hear what they have to say about it for sure. I have a whole bunch of these kicking around.
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6,030 Posts
I have a few I9 stems that I have been running since release, no issues.
Looking at your pics, the fact that the two halves, upper and lower, are touching tells me you are probably over-torqued.
Both of my steerer pinch points still have gaps.
Looking at your pics, the fact that the two halves, upper and lower, are touching tells me you are probably over-torqued.
Both of my steerer pinch points still have gaps.
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I’m also wondering if the stem was tightened, possibly too much, in colder temps. Then as we have heat waves and the bike is sitting in a hot garage and parts are expanding…
Boom, you have a perfect recipe for failed parts.🤷‍♂️
Part of the reason I torque to the lowest spec and gradually increase if needed.
Boom, you have a perfect recipe for failed parts.🤷‍♂️
Part of the reason I torque to the lowest spec and gradually increase if needed.
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That’s the only explanation that makes any sense unless somebody else was fooling with the OP’s bike between 6/24 and now. No way it was like that and he was JRA.
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As mentioned, it looks over torqued to me since the halves of the clamp are touching.
OP, I recommend having your torque wrench checked for accuracy.
OP, I recommend having your torque wrench checked for accuracy.
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Yes that would suck and now, of course, the wife is asking the same thing. Great!
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I have owned numerous I9 products so I was pretty shocked too. Drafting up the email with pics now to shoot off to them. Supposed to have a 2 year warranty on their stems.
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I've built numerous bikes and have never had issues either. Torqued properly and in steps as well so could just be a fluke. Contacting I9 to see what they have to say.
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The temp idea is something to think about but this bike was built in Sept of last year so it definitely wasn't in colder temps. Plus the garage where it is stored is temperature controlled. I agree on the lower torques and actually when I have two or more bolts in a set I torque them in increments until I get to the recommended torque.
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Not sure how new this is, but their instructions online say 5-6 Nm. So if you were on the high end of 7-9 Nm and your wrench was a wee bit off, you could have doubled the recommended torque.
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I had a Trivativ stem snap in the same manner. Im 90% sure it was from the Florida heat in my work shop. Alas, that was a forged stem with a single pinch bolt. Sram took care of it, no questions asked... apple and oranges in the grand scheme.
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3,390 Posts
Exactly. There would be gaps if the stem didn't crack/break.
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