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Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

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The latest piece of performance bicycle jewelry from Industry Nine has nothing to do with your wheels. Instead, I9 is living up to the new “Industry Nine Componentry” name with an all new stem. Starting with the shortest, and likely stiffest options, the A35 is the first stem from I9 and it originates from the same Asheville, NC facility that has been turning out their hubs, spokes, and axles for years.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

One of the benefits of owning your own manufacturing facility is that with the right equipment and engineering & testing brain power, you can pretty much create whatever you want. The design of the A35 started out in the hands of I9 designer and engineer Jeremy Hume, who worked directly with the highly skilled machinists at Turnamics Inc. next door to figure out how to turn solid billets of aluminum into finished stems. As a refresher, Turnamics is the machining business owed by the same family, of which Industry Nine was their ninth business venture.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

Once the design and manufacturing was in place, Jeremy devised a testing rig based on the Syntace method which is known for going past the typical industry standards. Initially, the strength of the Industry Nine A35 proved to be too much for the test rig, and the solid steel steerer tube snapped off the block where it was welded together. From there, Jeremy created a new steerer tube assembly that was one solid piece of steel.

Now the test rig was holding up to the pressure, and it allowed I9 to see just how far their stems would go. While running up to 600Ft-lbs of torque in various phases, Industry Nine’s stems were lasting past 50k cycles, only to have the bolts finally break as the weak link. Compare that to their competition which they claim to have tested only to 30k cycles because the bolts end up loosening or breaking long before they reach 50k cycles.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

Industry Nine attributes that strength to the use of 7075 aluminum which is a better material to begin with, which is then 100% CNC machined from a solid billet – which is where the A35 gets its name, from the A-axis of their 5-axis machining centers. The result is a beautiful little stem that is designed, machined, anodized, and assembled, all within their Asheville, NC facility.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining
Match your hubs perfectly. Or don’t.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

Like their colorful hubs and spokes, the A35 stems will be available in 11 different anodized colors with the option to mix and match bodies and face plates. They’ll also be available in 32, 40, 50, or 60mm lengths, all with 35mm bar clamps and their own unique degrees of rise. Pricing is set at $125 for a solid color stem, or $140 for the mix and match combo.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

Judging by how long the box is, and the ‘31.8’ check box, we’d wager that longer stems with 31.8mm clamps are in the works.

First Impressions

We were lucky enough to get our hands on an early sample, and can confirm that they are as nice as they look. Shown above is the 40mm version.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

On the scale, the stem comes in at 135g – exactly as claimed.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

That includes the precision stainless bolts included with the stem.

Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining Hands on: Industry Nine A35 stem turns with precision from CNC machining

Installation went as smoothly as you’d expect with a super premium stem. The stem oozes precision from how well it fits onto the steerer and bar, to how smoothly the bolts turn when you’re torquing things down (7-9Nm at the steerer, and 5-7Nm at the bar).

Considering it’s just barely more expensive than a Thomson Elite 35mm X4 stem in a solid color, we won’t blame you if you buy this on looks alone – especially if you have matching hubs. Available now.

industrynine.com

 

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17 Comments
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eric
eric
5 years ago

OMG: take my money…!

Celest Greene
Celest Greene
5 years ago

Looks sexy! And the weight isn’t bad either. Might want to ask Spurcycle about the wisdom of using production prints in promotional materials, though.

Jason Johnson
Jason Johnson
5 years ago

Really nice parts, it is cool to see the prints and tooling they are using. But you just spelled out for your competition. Show off some of your other cool tooling instead. That way ,you impress us machinist\designer guys. And don’t give up your process.
J Johnson

JBikes
JBikes
5 years ago
Reply to  Jason Johnson

What process? Anyone with a 5-axis mill could duplicate it and would understand how.

I’m not saying its not a nice product, but its just a stem people. There is nothing proprietary or high tech about machining a block of aluminium into a stem. Anyone that wanted to directly copy it would just buy one and take measurements. Why they would do this is beyond me.

Celest Greene
Celest Greene
5 years ago
Reply to  JBikes

If you’re a Chinese shop making knockoffs, it’s really hard to beat the print. eBay here we come!

Dodo
Dodo
5 years ago
Reply to  JBikes

They did indeed. The I9 stem looks pretty much identical to the Renthal Apex stem

Bruce Davey
Bruce Davey
5 years ago
Reply to  Dodo

It looks nothing like the apex lol

Charles
Charles
5 years ago

Why doesn’t it come in a 140mm?

dl
dl
5 years ago
Reply to  Charles

and -17 degrees too

Tom
Tom
5 years ago

Dead sexy. Don’t know that i need one though…

wetwell
wetwell
5 years ago

This article makes me want to buy this stem about 20x more than the Pinkbike article

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
5 years ago
Reply to  wetwell

I’m to the point where I can’t read articles/sales pitches from the website you mention. I pretty much just skim through looking for the specs and maybe a few key bits of info, but the rest of the words are usually some pretentious industry shilling drivel.

Matty
Matty
5 years ago

What those test results tell me is that if I switch the cap screws in my current stem to grade 12.9 and put thread locker on them, it will very likely approach the same test results as the A35.

Tim
Tim
5 years ago

This post has generated a lot less hate than the one on the Paul Klamper of a week or so back.

razz
razz
5 years ago

i’m confused…. so is it handmade or CNC finally ??

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
5 years ago
Reply to  razz

The piece of bar stock is hand loaded into the CNC machine. And a human finger presses the “Start Program” button.

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
5 years ago

Wish there were more anodized options like this for road stems. Seems like the only way I can get a 120mm -6° stem to pop color wise is by getting it painted for about 7 million dollars

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