modded my stem. thoughts? anyone else do this before? . Also ordering bars.

So my stock dk stem was pinched as far as it can go because I guess it just got over stressed after having it for about a year. Got it in summer of 2013 on a complete bike around june, maybe between the 20th and 30th and it is June 9th now. Anyway. I did a mod which I could imagine is decently common. Look below



The side with less material is where I cut. The bolts cross each other (bolt head on one side, bolt head on the other) I know that you are supposed to evenly tighten the bolts. And I did the cut to obviously relieve the stretching. Allowing optimum performance when tightening and I noticed the stem slides over my forks easier too.

I noticed that some of the threading had stripped in a few holes. Not all the way through, at the start of the few holes. So I guess I will just flood the bolt areas with grease.

The bars I am ordering by today or tomorrow are the Verde Regent Bars in 9.25" Rise. I would like to say this... I DOUBT I will mess these bars up. The fiction troop bars I had lasted me 8 months till the knurling was becoming unusable. Verde makes decent quality parts so I am sure they will last just as long if not longer. I am getting 9.25" rise because when I measured my current bar height with the spacers and stem rise. It was right over 9.75 or so. This means I will be able to just drop my stem a bit. And maybe throw a small spacer on the top and call it good.

Also I was thinking about this. Since I tend to ride more "value" type parts that cost less than others. I thought I would do a youtube channel with part reviews on the "value" type parts on the market. I feel like this could appeal to riders without a decent flow of money or who would not tend to really have a large budget. Any thoughts on that. This might be able to appeal to starting riders who dont really want to drop too much cash on certain parts. Again. Any thoughts?