All my bars and stems are 25.4mm. I like them but do I need to stockpile 25.4mm Monkeylite bars? I’d be interested in opinions as well as industry insider leaks.

Definitely. Some manufacturers have already stopped making 25.4 and 26.0 bars and stems. You’ll still find these sizes on low-end stuff for a few years, but not of the quality/weight you are accustomed too.

wont become obsolete, just less posh

you can still buy 7 speed stuff, jut not 7 speed xtr

why has this happened?

progress, 25.4/25/26 etc will all disappear and 31.8 will remain.

Whether it is better or not is a different question

Hope not. It’s like riding a jack-hammer.

oh its another perceived ‘benefit’ / advantage – or its marketing bs to try and make us feel inferior and ‘ oh so last decade dear’ and therefore spend + spend our way to a dictated biking nirvana….

Makes it easier to have the same size bar and stem on all types of bike and bars IMHO

I heard this would never happen because you can get steel 25.4mm bars which the dirt jump kids with rigid forks use because 31.8 stress and snap…

I thought it pretty much had already.

No, because just when you thought 31.8 was settled one of the manufacturers will bring out 34.6 and you’ll have to replace everything again.