I’m looking for a new riser bar and stem combo. I’ve tried the setup below so know the fit works well:

Stem with 50mm, zero rise

Bars, 760-780mm wide, ~20mm rise. 5 degree upsweep and 8 degree backsweep. (pretty standard)

The choice of bars and stems out there seems huge, any pointers could be appreciated. To narrow it down a bit, carbon seems out of my price range, riding would be more to the aggressive side of trail and 35mm looks to be the future of bars/stems.

What can you recommend?

OnOne Knuckleball carbon bars and an El Guapo Corto stem from Planet X seems to be the aftermarket upgrade on most of our bikes.

El guapo outlaw stem is very nice for the price. I quite like Race Face atlas bars.

I wouldn’t let the 35mm standard sway you.

I wouldn’t let the 35mm standard sway you.

Thinking that 35mm might be more future proof… thats’s all

recommend what you have so a spank spike vibrocore bar and stem (35mm length)

For me it’s Burgtec Ride Wide bars & Burgtec Enduro stem in old school 31.8mm.
Bars: 15 or 30mm rise, 9 degree back sweep, 4 degree upsweep (800mm but can cut down).
Stem: 35 or 50mm reach in 31.8 or 35mm size.

My favorite setup to date. Stem is nice to look at and looks tough. Bar shape just suits me. British firm too!

Thinking that 35mm might be more future proof… thats’s all

Not convinced, a lot of bar manufacturers are only making 35mm bars just because everyone else is. I’ve read that the trade-off between weight, strength and stiffness only seems to make sense over 800mm.

@Tracey Have the bolts on your Corto stems corroded at light speed, just like mine from being installed last summer?

I’ve still got corrosion-free stem bolts on my 2006 Felt racer, 2008 Saracen Pylon frame and the semi-gouged from RTA 2009 Specialized Tricross Singlecross!

… But I vaguely recall buying some fancy bolts, perhaps titanium, from Superstar ~2010. These might have not been stem bolts, but bottle cage ones, too old and forgetful these days to remember. 😳

35mm Corto and 747 chewy Knuckleball here, very happy, despite the stem being much shorter reach than anything I’ve used before (including the ~100mm 45 degree PX jobbie I bought to try and make my Felt rideable after my 2008 back injury).

PX now do 35mm clamp El Guapo Outlaw stems for £40 and £15 for Saloon bars.

Not convinced, a lot of bar manufacturers are only making 35mm bars just because everyone else is. I’ve read that the trade-off between weight, strength and stiffness only seems to make sense over 800mm.

Doesn’t really matter if you or I aren’t convinced. If I want a different stem or bars in the future and it’s all going 35mm (regardless of reason or merit) then it makes sense to buy 35mm now. Otherwise I have to swap both again

All the bolts are fine and we are running quite a few of them

OnOne Knuckleball carbon bars and an El Guapo Corto stem from Planet X seems to be the aftermarket upgrade on most of our bikes. [/I]

I’ve these too.

Expensive, but I’m loving my Chromag Ranger stem and Cutlass Carbon bar. The stem is proper solid, a tad weighty at 180g but it is gorgeous and feels substantial. The bar is incredible though, with a wonderfully tuned ride that offers a bit more give than other carbon bars, really helps with the hands on longer, rougher sections. Best bars I’ve owned I reckon

I’m using what I’ve used for years in various versions (different length stems, bar rise etc) & run Renthal on everything, love the shape. Even during blind testing late last year, the Renthal came out top within the group.

Just to chuck another option into the mix, i have carbon bars and stem from alpkit (love mud) and i like them , if you do get them chuck the small spacers in too so that you can fit them properly into the steerer as they are a snug fit and work best as a set

The alpkit carbon bars are only £33 at the moment in the sale. It’s just a shame the widest they do is 740.

https://www.alpkit.com/products/love-mud-scope-carbon-riser

Thanks for all of the suggestions, will have a look into them 🙂

if money is available then Syntace (Megaforce stem and Vector carbon bars)