So heres the dilemma, the new build requires stem and bars. Its a 160mm alpine type bike so I’m already on the wide bar / short stem kick but….short of buying lots of bars and stems, how do you get the right combo ?

If I was surrounded by similarly minded types I would borrow their rides to see, but sadly that is not the case.

Any tips gratefully received.

Bars are an easy one IMO. Buy something silly wide and cheap (IIRC Nukeproof do an 800mm bar) then just experiment with positions.
Stems are not so easy! Perhaps buy a used 50mm, 70mm and 80mm and see what you like?

If I was surrounded by similarly minded types I would borrow their rides to see, but sadly that is not the case.

Make friends 🙂

After that e-bay or cheap stems and some cheap bars to cut down then get the nice stuff

You’ll probably settle on a 50mm stem and 750mm-ish bar, maybe up to 780mm though.

Low rise style bar probably best, but leave enough steerer tube on your fork to move it up a bit if you need to.

Ohhhh Mike ! Will you be my friend ? (looks down and twiddles with what’s left of hair) 😀

If you look around you can pick up cheap stems for about a tenner, maybe get a 50 and a 70 and see what you think (if you are friendly with your LBS they may even lend you some from their workshop to try.) If your riding is a bit more pedally you might well prefer the 70. Second the tip on a cheap bar and cut it down. Then when you’ve got that sorted get something decent 🙂

(All of the below is my opinion from having a go on mates bikes, we all end up with a similar setup and.. of course, assuming you have the right size frame)

720ish bars… that bit is easy. Any bigger and they clatter into things, they don’t fit in the car and the steering is weird, resulting in you falling down a lot.

The stem is more difficult, but I’ve run a 70mm – 0 Deg for ages on multiple bikes and it feels fine. Shorter and I feel too compact on the bike, longer and it handles like a barge.

Rise is related to your bar rise too (but I always use low rise anyway) as a rule of thumb, if you feel like you’re going to fall over the front on that slow steep stuff stick a 5deg rise stem on. Another way to do this is have a travel adjust fork that can chuck the front end up.

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In fact, forget all that, you’re just going to have to try a few and feels what’s right for you and the bike together. I bet it’ll end up being 720 bars and 50-70 stem.

Wozza, I suspect you’re not far off with that summary. FWIW travel adjust forks on order (X-Fusion RL2 DLA)

I’m glad it helped, I was writing it thinking “I bet this is just confusing the poor fella”. 😆

I always base it off previous setups and compare top tube length. If its longer than previous bike I fit a shorter stem. Bars always move bikes when I do as I like the width so why would I buy another set!

We all ride bikes like that. Most of us run a 70mm stem. Personally, I found 50 was too short/twitchy, but it could be personal taste and also coming down from 90mm is quite a leap in one go.

As for the bars I’d say something like an Easton Haven is a good starting point, and not hugely wide. Again personal choice and depends on how tight the trails are where you ride and how wide your shoulders are.

Just moved from 745mm bars and a 70mm stem on my Orange 5 to 785mm and 50mm – absolutely loving it. Not only is it great for descending, but I find it just as comfortable for climbing and the increase in bar width means the front is still weighted enough to prevent the wheel lifting on steep climbs.

FWIW, Carbon Cycles do some really cheap (£13) stems in 60mm and up flavors.

http://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&t=2&c=48&p=992&

However I would just buy 740mm bars and a 60mm stem, slap it on and forget about it.

There are two ways to do it.
1) Experiment loads
2) Arbitrarily decide on the size you like for whatever reason seems to make sense- mag reviews, your mates, the width of your trees (you can’t ride a 730mm barred bike down the side of my house), or just the colour or looks. Then, just believe that it’s definitely the best. This works doubly well if you never try anything else.

But do remember, it’s important that you spend all climbs telling people how they should get wider bars, it’s the future, then at the bottom of all descents make sure everyone knows you’d have gone faster but your bars are too wide. Likewise, all climbing failures are because of your stem.

Just moved from 700/60 to 750/60. Slightly lower rise but changed two spacers on the steerer stack.

Been told my QR forks will now feel more flexy than normal…

Depends on log wide your shoulders are, how long your arms are and how tall you are and the size of your frame surely?

Long arms wide shoulders = wide bars (740 to 780)

If the frame has long top tube which an alpine does I think then 50mm stem.

I think 50mm stem and 740mm bars for an enduro type bike is pretty spot on these days unless you have short arms?

ddmonkey, it’s a bike for alpine stuff, rather than an Orange Alpine. It’s actually a Liteville 301 with a top tube of 584mm.

I’m pretty broad but only 5’9″, arms long, legs stumpy. Pretty much the perfect specimen 🙄

pymwymis – massive thread sidetrack, but seeing as you don’t have your email in your profile…

A few weeks ago you mentioned a product known as EZ-oil by Morrells for treating worktops. I’ve googled and I can’t find the product. Any further information on where I might buy some?

TBH I’m currently using bars ranging in width from 710 to 750mm and there’s not really that much in it IMO… the slightly Wider bars on the DH bike maybe make it feel a shade more stable, but then the saggy suspension/slacker head angle/longer wheelbase/etc probably contribute as much to that sensation…

All my stems are 50mm, I have used 60mm and 70mm ones but kept coming back to 50mm If you want to trial different reach stems, hunt about on ebay for cheap 50/60/70/80mm stems Exotic/carboncycles/woolyhatshop or used Bontrager ones, most are a reasonable bet, cheap and functional, once you’ve found the length for you you can flog the rest, or choose to buy a posher one in your prefered reach, without having gone through three thopmsons or whatever…

I’d just go for a 750mm+ bar and trim it if you really feel its required. Short and wide is generally the way to go for a bike that’s going to be pointed down more than up, but tweaking the stem by +/-10mm isn’t the worst idea…

On my Alpine I swapped to a 50mm syncros stem and stuck my existing 750 Syncros FR31 bars on. They’re pretty low rise. I was going to treat myself to some new bars so have been playing around with spacers and bar height and found that higher bars just made it harder to get weight over the front. They 160 forks make the front end pretty high anyway and I already ride in a fairly forward position a lot of the time. Wider bars are nice, but make upset the Mrs as she struggles to get it through the front door with wide bars. I’ve got pretty wide shoulders so I can get away with wide bars.

I seemed to have plumped for as wide and as low as I can get, and it never quite seems low enough. Head down, elbows out, chaaaaarge! 😉