Originally Posted by
Moisture
Aesthetics is totally useless when you have functionality and performance to consider first.
A cheap stem might seem "fine", but once you try a better quality stem (doesn't need to be hundreds of dollars) you'll be amazed how a stem which otherwise looks the same dimension wise can totally change the handling of your bike.
to be honest, I'm skeptical of that statement, but am always open to trying and feeling the difference between stuff, but can't see myself going that route, prefer to put time and money into other bike stuff.