New Bars Post Stem choices

stayhigh65

Morning All

Hope everyone is cool and groovy. Im rebuilding my Slayer 50 and replacing the bars, stem & seatpost.

I was originally looking at Easton EC70 bar & post with either EA70 or Thomson stem or Ritchey WCS carbon bar & post with WCS stem and then to add to my procrastination my LBS recommended the Bontrager Race Lite range to me

Im also curious as to the pro's & cons of a 31.8 bar over a standard size and the difference in stem length and angle.

What would people suggest/recommend or advise?

As always much appreciated

The Spiderman

Recently had the same dilemma,which was solved when I found that CRC were doing a Wiggle on the RF Deus stem and bars,together for £60.

Nice bars,fairly light at 210g and the stem is nicely finished,and secure but not the lightest.

I swapped to 31.8mm,which is meant to be stiffer.More choice in 31.8 bars these days than 25.4 too,so I saw it a way of future proofing my bike.

I just last week bought a Thomson Elite post,which was a bargain at £35 from Buckingham bikes.

Lovely post,much nicer than my old Easton,which turned tatty quite quickly.

Both the Thomson post and RF Deus bars are light and well finished enough,to make you wonder if the potentially troublesome carbon bits are worth it.

supersonic

Oversize stems and bars are stiffer, a little stronger, and can improve steering. Shorter stems quickens the steering response but also reduces reach.

Carbon bars can have a subtle vibration absorbing qualty. Ssems you have quite a big budget and should be able to pick up so top end kit - but dont rule out budget options. The SMICA stuff is excellent, as are Kookas offerings. I run a RaceFace NEXT LP carbon bar, very very good.

Brighty

When i was looking for bars, stem and post, i had a largish budget, but didn't fancy carbon. In the end went for EA70 bars, and supprisingly, the budget smica pro post and stem. The smica stuff is well regarded for strength, is lighter than thomson et al and can be had for less than £30 each, i didn't see the point in blowing more cash for something that weighed more. They look pretty cool too i reckon.

Brighty

shin0r

ea70 bar, hope stem, thomson post.

lovely.

fly4fun

thomson all the way! But sunline are getting some good reviews. I would go raceface for the bar - maybe an atlas or a deus, depending on your riding?

RichMTB

I recently took up wiggles offer for the race farce deus bar and stem.

I've not tried them yet (I'm hoarding parts for the winter) but I've ran a race face deus on my hardtail for a while and it has attached my handlebars to my fork with no issues and its nice and light.

I run a hope stem on my full sus which feels a bit stiffer but its a smodgeaon heavier than the race face stem.

I'm still not sold on oversize, stiff is good but you don't wan't all the trail vibtration transmitted to your hands either