So people ask me all the time "Ron" they ask "why do you keep this large and disreputable looking pile of bike parts?" Well, actually nobody has ever asked exactly that. And to the extent anyone has discussed my pile of parts at all it has been family, neighbors and clergy in varying degrees of concern, disgust and fear (respectively, more or less).
What they do not know is that I provide the valuable public service of keeping unsafe bicycle parts off the street and out of the hands of the unscrupulous who would sell these on eBay or put them on a bike they're flipping on Craig's List.
Meet the scariest stems ever. At least one member of this gang, their leader "Icon" was the subject of a nationwide recall. He was bad in the way of all insert tab and tighten screw devices. Except toy trains and battery covers don't take your teeth out when they break.
The middle one was just born bad. No hope of gripping a headtube in the way that is expected of a stem in this modern world he just wandered the internets in piles of assorted bicycle parts being sold from one bike monger to the next until I incarcerated him for the duration and saved his future victims.
The last member of the gang, the guy with the "S" tattoo to prove he's in with the tough crowd had the option. He could've been a decent stem. A bit short of bar bolts for a modern MTB stem, but solid and able to grip. Until someone just had to save a couple grams and drilled him out. A sad fate, but one he could do nothing about. Once a bike part is drilled there's no going back for them. Ever.
So that's why I am the Curator / Jailer of these parts. There is no hope of their ever changing their ways so they will not be released upon the streets ever again. And that is why I have an ever growing pile of parts.
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