You are hereForums / By Discipline / Mountain (off road) / MTB Gear / Brand advice for seatpost and handlebars
Brand advice for seatpost and handlebars
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
Hey guys
Just looking to change a few things on my bike for a better fit. I need an offset seat post 31.8mm and some riser bars (20mm or less probably) for my Trek Superfly but I have no idea what I'm looking at or what's worth looking at.
So without spending too much what would you recommend as far as brands and product?
Thanks for the help
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
Tags
Generally, it is hard to give too much advice as bars are quite specific to the bike and the rider, in terms of personal preference. I personally do not like flat bars as swept bars give more flexibility in rotating upwards and lengthening or shortening your reach. Plus flat bars look crappy.
Wider is better. Go at least 720mm. If you are > 6' tall, go 750mm. Easily one of the best and easiest improvements you can make on a bike. Go alloy. If you are riding rough stuff, you cannot suffer a bar failure at the crucial moment.
Love the look of the new Thomson bars. Cant go wrong with that brand!
http://bikethomson.com/handlebars/
I should mention it's also a 29er as that may vary the options available
For the Seatpost, Thomson all the way (unless you're going dropper post style). They can be a bit pricier than other brands, but are worth their weight in gold. The Elite is great, the Masterpiece is lighter again. The Masterpiece is generally lighter than Carbon posts, and stronger by far.
As for bars, I haven't tried the new Thomson bars, so can't comment other than if they live up to the brand reputation, they'll be awesome. If not Thomson, I highly recommend anything Syntace. Excellent bars, super strong, quite light, decent amount of compliance (helps on long rides) - not the cheapest though.
Take my comments with a grain of salt if you wish as I receive support from Oval Concepts but I am passionate about their products. I use their carbon riser bars & stems as they are Kevlar reinforced which means they don't shatter and cut you up if you stack. Mind you, touch wood, I've not tested this theory yet. The seat posts have a thin layer of aluminum inside the carbon for similar reason to the bars.
They look sexy too!
Thomson for seatposts - not least of all because they hold the seat really well - truly, it s a massive PITA with lots of posts that when your arse hits the seat on a jump or whatever, the seat tilts foward or back - and usually when racing or tying to keep up with a group and you havent got your multitool with you!
Bars - i like sweep, riser if you want to increase height, or very slight rise and sweep, if you feel your elbows are out too much.
Width - personally, I reckon over 700mm wide bars are crap, they catch trees, they are uber cool and trendy, and probably are more stable if you are hucking 2m drops, but they weigh a tonne (more leverage means much more strength required, therefore more weight). When I hear people say they need the leverage to muscle their 29er around corners - all I can think of is they must get tired out lifting a pint glass, and so order sevens from the bar.
What wider bars mean is more input is required to make a change, so rock gardens that really push the bars around have ana advanatge - only ever seen rockgardens proper on downhill tracks. All the good climbers I know, put their hands on the inside when climbing. Oh and single speeders gain a bit with width - standing and pumping seems a bit easier with wider bars
edit, and for material, my carbon bars have both had some pretty decent contacts through rocks and trees - enough to bend brake levers, and both bars have had some grinding off the ends from concrete and are all good. suspensipn on the front and bent elbows that take some force, mitigate a lot of the force of bars.
Thomson looks like the goer for a seat post. I'll probably grab the elite, they also do an alloy riser handlebar which is 12mm (780mm wide).. I was told to look at something around 15mm possibly 20mm so a few other bars I was looking at were Renthal and Nukeproof. Honestly I have no idea what I'm looking at.
@Fatboy I had a look at Oval Concepts gear and they have some alloy riser bars which look spot on "The 600" But I have no idea where or how I would go about purchasing them or what the costs involved are.
As far as price goes the Thomson Riser bar is $137 which is around the most I'd spend. Also If it helps I'm 6'2 and my superfly is a 29er.
@johnson - I see you are from Perth. I'll try getting hold of the importer and ask who stocks the products there and will pm you. I do know he sells a lot of FRM gear in Perth so most likely he has his Oval products in the same stores.
what style of riding do you prefer?race and climbing?general trail riding? a shorter stem and wider bars will make the bike more playful without sacrificing too much on the turn in/out of corners and will def make descending/jumping and rough stuff easier...if you keep your current stem and go wider bars the bike may feel a bit slower to turn and will open up the cockpit..as for seatposts i just run the same raceface dues xc post ive had for 6 years,no probs easy to adjust etc and ultra reliable..oh yer i wouldnt splash out heaps if your not sure want you want or how the bike will handle when you change bars etc..i would buy a cheaper product with the same geo and test it first,after a few rides if you are happy upgrade to more expensive(bigger wank factor) products..dunno just my opinion...oh and wider bars are better but you may have to shorten your stem to get a good balance... if you buy wider bars you can always cut them down...i think avanti in cannington had oval products????
thomson post and stem on my yeti, awesome got it from wembley.
@badchef
I've only recently bought the bike so most of my riding is just endurance on road to get fit enough to trail ride most likely. I'll probably give Avantiplus a call and see what they have and I'll be speaking to one of the guys at my LBS for more advice. For the moment it's just trying to get the bike set up comfortably enough to ride without too much stuffing around
If your just setting up then I wouldn't be buying expensive big brand stuff.
I'd use cheap stuff or see if your lbs can lend you a different stem/bar combo for a few days.
Once you've got your cockpit completely sorted then lash out and buy your expensive bits like the Thomson stuff or whatever.