OG 1980's Nitto Dirt Drop MTB Stem: 110mm x 25.4mm - Cable Stop - Silver - RARE (Near Mint)

This 1987 dated quill is one of the original Dirt Drop stems!  It is the same stem as the Specialized DirtDrop from the same era, as Nitto made the Specialized stem.  The Specialized version seems much more common than the vintage Nitto branded ones.  This is the stem the current Nitto MT-10 dirt drop stem was based on!  The modern one (in 80mm at least) is quite close in design, except they've extended the quill length to 168mm/178mm (depending on extension length)

Back in the 1980's, and very early 1990's if you look back at pics of Jacquie Phelan's Otto or John Tomac's bikes you'll notice they were riding quill stems of normal quill length, just with a lot of rise.  At some point during the resurgence of the Dirt Drop and thus monstercross bikes, modern geometry and modern sensibilities about not everyone needing a racing bike's saddle-handlebar drop led to "Dirt Drop" stems coming with very long quills to get the bars up even higher.  This works out well for modern bikes and for moustache bars, but if you're fitting dirt drops to a retro MTB and you're concerned with period correct it really should have a standard quill length like this one.

Condition

Near mint lightly used shape.  Quite few marks, likely low miles.  Show bike worthy

Details

• 1" quill
• Length: 120mm
• Clamp: 25.4mm
• Date code: U.P. (1987)
• Silver