¿Seat posts, handle bars and stems??? Discussion topic?

Levi_501

A Friday quandary; I responded to a post (no pun intended) the other day about handle bars.

After responding, I was thinking apart from my FSA stem on my R8, all my stems, posts and bars are Easton. Why, because the bike shop I happened to go into when I needed a set of bars urgently, just happened to have a set of Easton bars reduced.

Since then I have always bought Easton with the exception of the FSA stem, which was only bought as it had a monster % discount!

Dare I ask (I did a quick search) is there much difference in performance in these lesser discussed items? or do we buy them based on looks, % discount and/or what we have had in the past?

Has anyone actually tried similar stems from say, Hope, Easton, Thompson and FSA on the same bike?

Thanks in advance

BTW, if a Mod thinks this should be in General, then fine.

Twelly

I have no brand loyalty. A stem is a bit of metal which holds my handlebars on, don't really care what the writing on the side says as long as it is the right price and the right size. Same with bars, seatposts etc.

njee20

Unless something is very wrong with a stem it won't make much difference!

It's also one area where carbon is pointless, usually heavier, with no stiffness gains.

Bars and seatposts the shape varies, and that's personal, lots of people will like a certain shape of bar, or like a certain clamp on a seatpost. Thomson are reputable posts for good reason. Ditto Easton bars.

All personal really though.

supersonic

The budget stuff is often as good as the big brands. I refuse to pay more than £20 for a stem, and about £30 for bars (unless carbon, I'll pay more for carbon bars). I think Thomson stuff is vastly over rated.

paul.skibum

I like the clamp system on raceface posts easy to use, one bolt with loads of adnustment - to me this is the one area on a seat post you can detect any difference otherwise its just a post - I find the traditional clamps whetehr one or two bolt to be a pain to use.

Stems - as long as its a four bolt plate I would use any model or make - I'll probably vary to get a pretty looking one over a ugly piece of pig iron.

Bars - width rise and rake are the factors, then price then colour! Although I have only bought 3 bars in 10 years (oher than ones that came on bikes) - an Easton EA70 for my hardtail which is still on there, a second hand thing to try out which was horrible and a Raceface xc for my full susser.

bjj.andy.w

Won't touch Easton seat posts again after a EA70 snapped clean in half resulting in me lying flat on my back in the middle of road and very nearly being run over by a car following behind me. Thomson for me now.