Sure, this is just a prototype we pulled from his PDF portfolio, but after seeing what he did for Cannondale (The Dutchess commuter, link here) as part of a graduation project, we had to show you some more of his concepts. Â Actually, the majority of the concept projects in Wytze van Mansum’s portfolio are bicycle related and totally worth checking out.
This bad boy is the Lightweight Stem for Road or Mountain Bike, and here’s what he had to say about it:
This idea originated from the fact that a lot of stems on the market tend to crush the thin carbon wrapped handlebars; these stems act as bench vices. In my search for a way of clapming the handlebar without squeezing them, I came up with a carbon strap around an aluminum center that still allows the user to take of the handlebards without having the take off the shifters, brakes and grips. I also wanted to use the materials in a way that makes sense. Â Many stems out there have fance carbon looks, but they don’t use the strengths of the material to its best.
In this design I detached the different forces acting in a stem. The carbon is only put under tensile forces, and the aluminum only has to cope with the pressure forces and the torque. Because every part is only put under one type of force, the stem can be ultra lightweight.
More pics after the break…
Now if he just drilled out that top cap, it would really save some weight.
