Nitto Single Pinch Stem
Hey, good morning, good evening!
This is Samba from Blue Lug Yoyogi Park.
There are all kinds of bike parts in the world that bike nerds dream of owning, but there’s one part I’ve personally been obsessed with for years, and it still hasn’t lost its appeal.
(Photo borrowed from eBay.)
It’s the vintage chromoly stem from Salsa.
I think my first encounter with one was seeing it on a track bike.
Back when I barely even knew what Salsa was, something about this stem just clicked with me. It looked really cool. With one bolt on the steerer side and another on the handlebar side, its integrated faceplate creates this smooth, uninterrupted silhouette from the stem into the handlebar. I’ve always loved that look.
I started getting interested in them the same way you get into vintage clothing. I couldn’t get my hands on a frame, but a stem? That seemed doable. Whenever I came across one secondhand, I’d pick it up here and there. They’re parts with a lot of memories attached to them for me. (Although sometimes I’d buy one without checking the specs properly, only to find out the clamp diameter was 26.0mm…)
This is the kind of look I’m talking about.
A lot of people have used them on track bikes because of the simplicity of the design.
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Like Chas from MASH’s Cannondale Track, for example.
Gosh, I love this bike.
I’ve also tried running a stem with a similar vibe on my own bike, wanting to bring out that old MTB look.
But finding an old part in exactly the right size isn’t easy, and paying a premium just to make it work doesn’t always feel right, either.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if Nitto, one of our all-time favorite component makers, could make a stem with that same slightly old-school, style?
…That was pretty much the conversation we were having together after closing the shop, and it eventually led to the birth of the stem I’m excited to introduce today. (A huge thank-you to Nitto, as always!)
Boom.
Say hello to the Single Pinch Stem.
The name comes from its single-bolt clamping design.
It’s based on Nitto’s UI Stem, a classic which stands for “Ultimate Ideal.”
The original UI Stem used a 26.0mm handlebar clamp diameter, a standard found on road bikes back in the day. We changed that to 25.4mm, so there’s more options for bars and no shims are needed.
It comes in two finishes: dull bright and black.
The dull version features the original UI Stem decal, while the black version is intentionally left without one.
This is because I wanted y’all to put the 100Tacos Spicy stem decal or the Shovel Research “Salad Sticker”.
Would ya look at that! I’ve been wanting to do this!
For those who chose the black, have fun with adding a cool decal on it.
There are two angle options: 0°, which gives you that classic right-angle look, and 10°, which sits closer to horizontal.
We had it made in three lengths: 90mm, 100mm, and 110mm.
From drop bars to flat bars, there’s plenty of room to play around with different setups.
Personally, I’d love to see the 0° version on a vintage MTB build.
One thing to keep in mind: because of its single-bolt clamping design, it’s not ideal for handlebars with a lot of backsweep.
I love that look that’s a little rough around the edges, but still somehow refined. It has that perfect vintage-parts vibe.
The clean, simple shape also works incredibly well on track bikes.
Tommy, for example, is running the 10° version with bullhorn bars.
I’d love to try it with drop bars, too. I have a feeling that would look seriously good.
We’d be stoked to see you run it on all kinds of bikes, so don’t be afraid to experiment with your setup!
In Stores : Oct. 15th (Thu) 12PM
Online : Oct. 15th (Thu) 7PM
That’s it for this blog! Thanks for reading!
– Samba
