I enquired at my local LBS about a shorter stem for my Rockhopper, going from a 100mm to 70mm, however they said that the norm is to have 31mm bars whereas mine is 25mm.
Is this correct and if so new bars required, a chance to try 700mm bars then!

LBS trying to pull a fast one. Bars/stem can be either standard clamp size (25.4mm) or oversized (OS 31.8), you can still get plenty of bars and stems in either – there's no 'norm'. My guess would be that LBS only had OS stems in stock and tried to BS you.

It's the 'norm' for the latest stuff I reckon but definitley not the norm overall.

they probably just didn't have the right length stem in non-OS…

Thanks for the above comments, has anyone fitted the Cyclelife/Outland D31-eight bar stem grip setup. Seems good value all in at £40ish.

I think STW used these with the multi use article acouple of monthe ago

Your bars are just as Normal as OS 31.8mm,

sounds like the LBS Gibbon is just too lazy to find a 25.4mm Clamped stem…

There's about a million available…

or you could buy a 31.8 and get it shimmed…

I have a 28.4mm bar, am I normal too?

No, you're weird 😉

I've got a Tioga O-bone stem in 80mm 25.4 clamp I could send you for about £8 posted if you're interested. 1 week's use. Email in profile if you want it.

smartay,

The Outland bar and stem combo is very good. I found the bars had too much rearward sweep for my liking but they maynot be for you. Stem was robust although the bolts were porly finished and started to rust slightly.

To be fair I find it odd that an lbs didn't have a 70mm 'normal' stem. That said there are plenty around on e-bay, in Halfords, Evans etc… No need to spend £40 on a new bar/stem combo.

I have a 28.4mm bar, am I normal too?

Nope but it's not very common though.

Juan