cockpit advice - gravity enduro setup

goytregrit

I'm not a newbee, I ride a mix of xc trail and DH on an orange alpine 160. I changed the stock 50mm stem for a Rental and fitted 10mm rise bars currently uncut. I've ridden a few other bikes and they all have their pros and cons. I'm not wholly unhappy with my setup but wondered if anyone could give some genuine advice as to how changing or keeping these bars may affect my riding or be improved, particularly as next year I plan to enter a few gravity enduro events.

ricardo_smooth

if it feels right. it probably is with bars ime

paul.skibum

The Stock stem was 50mm - what rise was it? What length and rise is the Renthal?

The new bars are 10mm rise and uncut but how wide are they? What back sweep and how do you have them set up?

What feels wrong?

felix.london

goytregrit wrote:

I'm not a newbee

Well stop asking daft questions then.

Ride the bike and see what it's like. Make changes as/if necessary (for you). You already changed your stem and bars so you must have some idea what effect this has (or else why change them in the first place?)

rockmonkeysc

goytregrit wrote:

I'm not a newbee, I ride a mix of xc trail and DH on an orange alpine 160. I changed the stock 50mm stem for a Rental and fitted 10mm rise bars currently uncut. I've ridden a few other bikes and they all have their pros and cons. I'm not wholly unhappy with my setup but wondered if anyone could give some genuine advice as to how changing or keeping these bars may affect my riding or be improved, particularly as next year I plan to enter a few gravity enduro events.

You need 800mm wide bars with a 25mm rise and a 120mm stem with a -6 degree rise.

goytregrit

The stem is 10 degree rise, its just a cosmetic replacement for the Truvativ that was already on the bike. The bars were more just an attempt at going wider as I had had wide bars (730mm) on my previous bike. I didn't honestly know what the 10 degree rise bars would handle like just gave it a chance. All fat bars are 7 deg back sweep and 5 degree upsweep. They are still 780 wide. Its a personal choice I know and down to the rider. I suppose the higher rise bars on bike from new were to narrow for me but did seem to give the bike a bit easier front end lift, whereas the bars I have now limit that feeling but do seem to do the business for DH. If I could try other bars easily I would but just after a bit of advice really which might help. If there is no easy answer other than keep testing then fair enough.

paul.skibum

I rode a bike the other day with 777mm bars - they felt terrible to me coming from my 690mm - I wanted wider on my DH bike but going up to 777 was way too much, with my arms out that wide I lost flex in my arms and found a shift in weight dropped the bike in to turns with too much enthusiasm - it was just wrong for me as I am only short and not particularly broad shouldered.

I personally would like to go for 720 or so I think.

Your best bet if you liked the 730's and now have 780's is to try moving all the cockpit in a bit on the 780's and ride them as if they were shorter bars and see how it feels - its something you can do on a ride to try incremental changes and see where you find the sweet spot.

Wider bars with the same original length stem can slow up steering which is why shorter stems usually accompany wider bars to offset the change. Play around with the bars you have first, you dont want to have to buy a shorter Renthal if you can avoid it - pricey!

goytregrit

paul.skibum wrote:

I rode a bike the other day with 777mm bars - they felt terrible to me coming from my 690mm - I wanted wider on my DH bike but going up to 777 was way too much, with my arms out that wide I lost flex in my arms and found a shift in weight dropped the bike in to turns with too much enthusiasm - it was just wrong for me as I am only short and not particularly broad shouldered.

I personally would like to go for 720 or so I think.

Your best bet if you liked the 730's and now have 780's is to try moving all the cockpit in a bit on the 780's and ride them as if they were shorter bars and see how it feels - its something you can do on a ride to try incremental changes and see where you find the sweet spot.

Wider bars with the same original length stem can slow up steering which is why shorter stems usually accompany wider bars to offset the change. Play around with the bars you have first, you dont want to have to buy a shorter Renthal if you can avoid it - pricey!

Thanks for the post. I will give the moving controls inwards a go as a starter.