Climbing is only dangerous if you are careless and don't check your safety. I never feel any inherent danger when I climb, but I do when I ride, because there are no safety restraints when you make a mistake.

Where I live, most parents do not encourage the same gender-biased activities for their kids as parents used to, say, 20 years ago. Girls are often encouraged to participate in so-called "boys" activities these days. On my trails (XC anyway), there is a pretty even mix of men and women. DH is still a bit male dominated though. What I think is important is to let our children do what they want to do. There's nothing wrong with introducing your son or daughter into mountain biking, but if they're not really interested in it, that's ok too. I love mountain biking, and I hope that when my son gets a bit bigger we can enjoy riding together. But if he prefers figure skating, then I guess I'll be spending more time at the arena instead :)

@rbeach: re: "Until a guy gives birth we won't know, but I doubt either gender is better disposed towards pain." - Actually, many studies have concluded that women DO in fact have a higher tolerance for pain, and not just because of child bearing. Men are typically bigger babies when it comes to pain and other general discomforts, such as when they are ill. HOWEVER, men also tend to heal/recover faster than women because of this because they take the time to rest, instead of soldiering forth through the pain.

Well, when our son was born, my best guess would be that it's like being kicked in the nuts over and over again for just over 24 hours. So yeah, great analogy.

SRAM makes a lot of OEM parts though, which may justify the cost.

I'm not sure I follow...

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that this stem (or other CNC parts) are always lower quality than forged parts. In fact in many cases it's the other way around. I'm actually just saying that the end result is due to many factors.

I was simply replying to Protour's comment about cold-forged stems. Because I think comparing different manufacturing methods is an appropriate discussion regarding this article.

I am obviously not an engineer of any kind, but here is what I have learned from reading too much bike-related literature on the subject: Cold-Forging takes a piece of metal and under great pressure, squeezes it into a die. The metals is not melted first, and is only conformed into the shape of the die from the pressure of the machine alone. This forces the grains of the metal to conform to the shape of the die, making it very strong. Machining a solid piece of metal basically just removes unwanted material, so the molecular structure of the metal is unchanged, no matter what the shape. People generally like machined parts because the finish is unique and looks high quality: its got those cool lines on the surface. However, forged items can have this too by simply machining the surface. So why isn't everything forged and then machined for looks? For one, forging is an expensive process because you need to create dies. So smaller boutique brands will not do this due to high overhead costs. It is cheaper to machine small batches because you don't need the specialized equipment. Second, not everything can be forged. Machining can create much more intricate 3D shapes. All that being said, the overall strength of a part is not simply due to the materials or manufacturing process. The design of the part can play a large role too - simple things like width, shape, thickness of material, clamping surfaces etc. all are important factors. That is what I have learned from the University of PinkBike. Perhaps a real engineer can take over and tell me if I'm just reciting marketing jargon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forging