Zipp stepped forward and upped the ante at Eurobike, where it pulled the drapes of its latest stem, the SLSpeed.
It’s the company’s lightest stem to date, no mean feat given the company’s history, but it’s that history that is the driving force of creating ever lighter products. The SLSpeed stem is an all-carbon item and doesn’t rely on any aluminium inserts, as many carbon stems do, to get the weight as low as possible.
This presented obvious problems, so to get around them Zipp have designed a forged titanium faceplate with reverse bolts attaching it to the all-carbon stem, with the steerer clamp bolt threading into a floating nut. Additionally, there’s a nod towards aerodynamics with Zipp’s trademark dimples appearing on the titanium faceplate.
All this development has created a stem that weighs just 100g (for a 100mm model), and will be available from 80mm to 130mm lengths with a 6° angle and 31.8mm clamp size.
No word on the price yet…
More info on Zipp 2009 products.
