Hands up - I am a Thomson fan boy.
I use this stem on my road bike & CX bike & the 4 bolt face plate version on my mountain bikes. (As well as Thomson seatposts, seat collars, handlebars, etc...)
A great quality stem that offers a 10 deg rise drop if you need it.
Aesthetics are great if you want subtle & smart looking stem.
There are reviews about the 2 bolt face plates cracking. I have not experienced any failures with any of my stems but I am an avid user of a torque wrench & carbon paste and consider the numbers printed on parts upper limits. (and by this fact I have not actually experienced any mid - high price component structure failure)
Also the bolts on recent stems have been changed from 4mm hex to 3mm hex. There are comments about this bolts rounding easily & I would agree with this. I have one bolt on my older stem starting to round out even after torquing to stated values only. However bolts are cheap & can even be ordered as a replacement part from Thomson or even a local hardware store. Thomson probably changed this to prevent some of the non-calibrated human feel torque wrench created failures -)
When I replaced a 110mm Bontrager stem on my road tandem with a 120mm Seven Cycles stem I noticed a lot more flex in the front end of the bike. The fit was better but I was never happy with the flex. After narrowing down the search to this and one other stem I decided to go with the Thomson as my mountain tandem also has an X2 on it as original equipment.
I used the tool here (httpyojimg.netbikewebtoolsstem.php) to compare the fit since I was replacing a 6 degree stem with a 10 degree stem and found that by mounting the steeper Thomson one spacer lower I would achieve almost exactly the same handlebar position. I had to buy additional spacers because the stack height of this stem was lower than the one I was replacing.
Based on some reviews I've read I'll keep an eye on the face plate to make sure no cracks develop, but the stems seem very well built.
Been using Thomson stems for many years. Over the last few years I�ve had three face plates crack on 4x model. This is the second 2x I�ve had the first one has been fine so hopefully this one will work fine also. I don�t understand why face plates have broken used exact torque all broke Horizontally but not catastrophically so my advice is to just keep an eye on them.
Been using Thomson stems for many years. Over the last few years I�ve had three face plates crack on 4x model. This is the second 2x I�ve had the first one has been fine so hopefully this one will work fine also. I don�t understand why face plates have broken used exact torque all broke Horizontally but not catastrophically so my advice is to just keep an eye on them.
Nicely made stem with a nice choice of rise for better fit.
That said, I'm not a fan of the two bolt handlebar clamp. I have a high quality torque wrench and carefully checked the tightening per the spec. I did have the lower bolt loosen to the point where it could have gotten really scary at some point and I'm surprised it didn't lead to a crash. I would like this stem to have a four bolt handlebar attachment point where it is unlikely that 2 or 3 bolts would all loosen. The 2 bolt system Thomson uses has less redundancy.
This is for my gravel bike, a 2014 Kona Rove titanium multi-surface bike, I've never had an issue with any Thomson stem and I've used both the Elite and the X2 on many bikes including MTB, CX and road and even though Thomson does, I've never distinguished between road and off road products. It looks great, it works great.
I have not experienced any problems with this stem. I like the angle and length. I did my research before buying and am happy with purchase. It also looks good with my thomson seatpost.
Use this stem with Thomson carbon road bars for a great combination
This is my second X2 stem. I got the 10 degree black and it looks wicked reversed. The 2 bolt pattern provides plenty of bar grip without pinching. I previously used one on my race bike Cervelo R3 with carbon bars and liked it so much that I decided to throw it onto my secondary roadbike. It looks beautiful with a set of Thomson bars.
I realize that many weight weenies will complain about the weight, but this is a beautifully machined piece of art with unbelievably amazing strength/stiffness. Considering the quality of the stem it is an unbelievable bargain. I also own the Thomson Masterpiece seatpost which is equally great.
Many high end builds end up with Thomson stems and posts. Why? Functionality, quality, aesthetics and durability!
The x2 Thompson stem is rigid, even though it is relatively light, and the way it wraps the bar ensures there are no pinch points to damage light weight bars. One interesting update is the move to smaller M3 bolts instead of the M4 bolts used on earlier versions. I am not sure it changes the weight but it will help reduce the chance of over tightening. For the price, the clean look and the quality I am not sure there is a better stem around.
Ultra Light and very nice. I purchased the 17 degree model and it has been great.
Using a click-type 25-25- ion-lb automotive torque wrench set to 45 resulted in under-torqued the bar clamp bolts and I experienced some bar rotation during rides. Strongly suggest using a Park TW-1 beam-type wrench (or equivalent) for precise tightening to the recommended 45 in-lb. Thomson suggested that the automotive ones may not be accurate at the low and high ends of their ranges. A beautifully forged and to my eyes, elegant piece of gear.
No one needs a lighter or more expensive stem. Take a good look--the pros use aluminum bars, stems and seat posts because the carbon ones BREAK from time to time and they have weight limits.
The lightest stem is only about 20-30g lighter, so if you weigh more than 120lb, forget it. Thomson stuff has this weapons-grade, NASA spec quality that might actually make the rest of your bike look crappy. Looks great on an unpainted Ti frame.
I bought in neibor Hungary
