Wooden stems?
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Handlebars and frames maintain a (relatively) thick diameter through their length. Metal and carbon stems are significantly thinner around their clamping area, much thinner than a wood stem could maintain integrity. So unless you want one that looks like a gargantuan cartoon of a blocky bmx stem, wood probably is not viable.
Honestly, that's almost exactly what I had in mind when the idea of grabbing a block of wood from the garage to try something as an "experiment" was running through my head.
Bad idea, especially when talking about 'grabbing a block of wood from the gargage', but hey, it's your teeth. Failure will be imminent and complete unless you are using something like lignum vitae, but you aren't. The only 'wood' stem I see actually having any shot whatsoever is laminated bamboo, I used wood in quotes because it is actually a rigid fibrous grass.
I do some woodworking and have some odd stuff lying around in the garage.
Was thinking something like Jatoba (I have a whole pile of it as flooring, but that would require some type of gluing or lamination):
Jatoba | The Wood Database (Hardwood)
www.wood-database.com
Comparing to Lignum Vitae, it looks like similar crushing strength, but higher modulus of rupture & elastic modulus.
Lignum Vitae | The Wood Database (Hardwood)
www.wood-database.com
I'm relieved to see that you have some knowledge about wood. That wasn't clear and I envisioned you grabbing a block of pine and hewing a stem, riding it and spitting out chiclets after you kissed it in spectacular fashion. Jatoba might be okay but I'm still skeptical. If it were me, I'd want something with a Janka of 3000+ and dimensional stability of under 10% shrinkage, and even then I'd be cautious. Something like bloodwood or cocobolo might work. If you do it, post pics and be careful riding it.
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You'll be pining for the days when you used to have a boring aluminum stem.
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Certainly does look like a very high degree of craftsmanship, but not sure how well it would function off-road.
Later designs look like he even moved from spokes + wood rims to wooden mag rims:
![Bicycle Wheel Tire Bicycles--Equipment and supplies Land vehicle]()
Later designs look like he even moved from spokes + wood rims to wooden mag rims:
SANOMAGIC-The world of Sueshiro Sano
Introduction of Japanese wooden yacht builder
sanomagic.world.coocan.jp
A hybrid option might be the safest method, similar to how XC Gear's Hammerhead 360 stems try to use elastomers to isolate vibration:
HAMMERHEAD 360 VERSION 2 (XCH318452)
Fits 31.8MM Bars Stem length 45MM Pick your ride: PRO-BLUE LARGE BAR POLYMERS AND TWO SHARK BITE POLYMERS-BLUE & ORANGE AGGRESSIVE-GREEN LARGE BAR POLYMERS AND TWO SHARK BITE POLYMERS-BLUE & ORANGE TRAIL-NEON RED LARGE BAR POLYMERS AND TWO SHARK BITE POLYMERS-BLUE & ORANGE
shop.xcgear.com
I'm imagining something that looks like a traditional stem where it attaches to the steerer tube but more like a wood vise where it attaches to the bars:
Thinking about this a little more, I suppose Delrin instead of wood in this type of design might solve the issue of dimensional stability but still reduce vibration.
Whether or not it would reduce it by enough to be worth the weight is a completely different question, I suppose.
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