She's A Beauty: Thomson Elite X2

I'm a sucker for the beautiful and pretty things in the world of bicycles. There are times I peruse the online bicycle shops and magazines just to drool over the $1000+ Colnago and Independent steel frames (also known as "bike porn"), and dream of the day I will be riding one. The Thomson Elite X2 was something I happily stumbled upon when researching stems. I have only owned one of this style of stem before, all others have been of the quill variety, and it was on my MTB. So this is the first with which I will be riding on the road. I had a whole lot of learning to do on this subject and started by punching in recognizable manufacturer names like Easton, Bontrager and Ritchey to get an idea of price and quality. Thomson is far from one of the heavy weights in bicycle components. Their two primary products are stems and seatposts. But do they ever make top quality stems and seatposts, and have earned a reputation for it. Thomson came to my attention by word of mouth (or hand in this case) in the bike nerd forums - a great reason for the existence of forums. After looking into the product I was impressed and even excited to secure one of these babies for my bike project. The Elite X2 is not only a gorgeous piece of crafted metal, its silvery body fits nicely into my retro-themed bike build design. Because most stems are black or blacker this shiny puppy was a revelation to find. I am now commited to going full on old school with all shiny, metallic components and am loving the thought of it. I had already decided on some brilliantly chromed out White Industries H2 hubs (yet to be purchased) so adding this stem to the mix convinced me I was already headed down this path of color scheme. Moving beyond aesthetics, the strength and quality of the stem is solid by most accounts. It has a 2-bolt handlebar clamp, as opposed to the common 4-bolt pattern, which for some raises concerns of the bars slipping mid-ride. I think when properly fastened this should not be a problem. Unless there are off-road conditions involved, then I think this design is sufficent. It's light weight coupled with strength. Should make for and excellent addition to the bike. And a final thought to add to all this adoration is when the product is high quality and design, as in this case, I will throw my money down to support the small company like Thomson.

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