Mythos Elix Stem

The Mythos Elix stem may look quirky, but it certainly has all of the stiffness and strength required to do the job. At a cool £500 it's not going to suit everyone's budget, but this technology doesn't come cheap – so if you want a show-stopping component for your bike, you're going to need to fork out for it.

Before we all kick off about the price, let's get the Elix in context – or for what I take it to be, at least. It's a showcase for the type of engineering, manufacturing and development that is possible. It's highlighting what we can do... not necessarily what we need to do.

The Elix isn't machined, cast or created from any of the usual methods. Instead, it has been 'printed'.

> Buy now: Mythos Elix Stem from Mythos for £500

You may have heard of 3D printing. Instead of machining material away like a CNC mill does, it's an additive process where products are built up in layers, line by line. The printers can build extremely complex shapes this way from 3D models created in CAD (computer aided design) software – including shapes that are potentially impossible to cast or mill in one piece otherwise.

3D printed plastic is common, but the Elix stem is metal. Mythos uses SLM Additive Manufacturing, with SLM standing for Selective Laser Melting, which involves accurately fusing metallic powders to create the layers.

The metal in question is Scalmalloy, an alloy created by Airbus, and it's a mix of zirconium, manganese, aluminium, magnesium and scandium. It's considered one of the strongest aluminium alloys suitable for additive manufacture, and it's also extremely expensive.

I spent quite a few years as a draughtsman for an engineering company, and my main role was creating 3D prototypes of new products via an in-house 3D printer. From this I know the actual printing process isn't necessarily quick, at all – something which only adds to the overall price.

Yes, but is it good?

In terms of performance the Elix can't be faulted. Then again, most stems can't really be faulted, regardless of cost...

The lattice design here gives the look of a lot less material than usual, but Mythos says it's actually 15% stiffer under torsion than an equivalent alloy stem, while matching its bending stiffness for comfort.

To be honest, away from a jig that is hard to judge, but hard efforts out of the saddle pushing down hard on either side of the handlebar showed no flex, and it coped with fast paced gravel rides too. If you are a larger or powerful rider (or both) you won't be left wanting.

Mythos is also keen to point out the Elix design has gone through fatigue testing to ISO 4210-5, with each stem having full traceability through its manufacture.

> How to choose the best stem length

Weight-wise the 120mm stem here tips our scales at 170g, which is light enough but not exactly groundbreaking. For example, the £285.99 carbon fibre Zipp SL Sprint stem is 173g in its 110mm guise (read our review here), and the £54.99 aluminium Easton EA70 is just 140g for a 100mm (review here). 

Schmolke's TLO carbon stem is said to be just 81g in a 100mm length. That costs between €498.99 and €645 though (it depends on your chosen colour scheme and internal routing option) – which, at the time of writing, was £424-£548.

The Elix is available in three colours – silver, gloss black or denim black – and lengths of 100mm to 130mm in 10mm increments. They all have a +/-8 degree angle.

Overall

So that's the deal. It isn't really lighter than any other stem on the market, and in the real world it's not noticeably stiffer than many either. However, it doesn't disappoint in terms of performance, and the quality is excellent with smooth finishes throughout and super tight tolerances.

It's a niche product created in small quantities, and with that comes a high price tag. If you can justify the cost and like the looks, you won't regret the investment.

Verdict

High-end price with the looks and technology to match, even if it doesn't outperform traditional offerings