As the title says, would there be any legal issues with attempting to develop aftermarket stems for MX wait he's? I understand I can't just blatantly copy a current design, but I would like to change the portion of the stem that gives the feel, and possibly the material.
But what I was thinking would be possibly UHMW for a stem material (though mkawa says this might pose issues). Even with the issues with it UHMW has 15 times then abrasion resistance of carbon steel, and has a very low coefficient of friction.
For a shape I was thinking something of a concave curve. I thing this would give the feel of a progressive rate spring while still using standard springs.
Thoughts, comments, ideas? I realize that molds would be significantly expensive, though I am very curious on what these would actually feel like.