Good thing?

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/exclusive-mondraker-unveil-radical-new-centre-stem–32859

That looks very odd indeed. I guess the extra 60mm on the front triangle would also add some weight.

It would, yeah, with minor savings on the stem & shorter headtube.

Most DH bikes still use a 50mm-ish stem, don’t they? Direct mount stems don’t shorten things that much – MX bikes a different story.

saw a very similar stem in dirt many years ago. that hyperactive editor Jerry seemed keen if i remember…

Azonic zero stem. Circa mid 2000’s

Will that design not put quite alot of stress on the bolts?

I’d have thought there’d be less – rather than your weight pushing them forward, it’s pushing down into the forks/stem.

Hadn’t thought of it that way – humn, i guess you could be right. I was thinking more pulling forces when you are doing stuff but thinking bout it now you do kind of push the bike away from you rather than pull it up.

Wanders off to confuse himself further.

It looks awfully high to me. I can’t see it feeling too great either but who knows?

Wonder if it does feel more precise turning on the axis of the steerer instead of the stem distance out from it. You can’t tell if it is high from that pic as the headtube may be short to compensate.

Might be quite good if the frame is the right length and probably takes a bit of getting used to.

I seem to recall Mountainbike International (Mike Rose, pre-Dirt??) reviewing a similar concept yonks and yonks ago. Can’t remember the make of bike though – think it might have had a Lawill back end on it… (Rotec???)

horrible hydroformed frames, IMO…. too wavey.

Eh, you don’t like the petrol tank, alpin?

Me neither 😉