Hi there guys,

I bought a BMC fourstroke (100mm FS 29er) and i do some agressive xc/light trail.

So, i have a syntace f149 75mm stem but i need something a little bit shorter and i would like something stiffer.
I was thinking about the thomson x4 70mm (to match with the seatpost) but i saw too many people talking about cracks. Is it a problem or if i use a torque wrench i’m good?
Is there some other option same weright or lighter, 70mm, reliable, strong and stiff?

About the bar, i’m thinking about a carbon flat (or low rise) 700mm bar. I like the truvativ noir t30 but there aren’t many reviews or feedbacks. I like the thomson AM too but the 6º backsweep, i dont know how many reach i’ll use from my 9º backsweep bar, and as i’m short, every mm matters.

Thanks for the time guys,

Best Regards

75 to 70mm sounds like you are trying to find an excuse to buy the Thomson than getting a better fit. I wouldnt worry about them cracking though, lots of Thomson stems out there with no problems and losts have cracked due to people fitting them wrong.

Take a look at the Easton Haven stems. They come in 70 and 55mm. I think there is also a havoc at 65mm but that is built a bit more burly. thomson are not really light stems.

As for sweep yes you will change the reach a bit but the most important thing about it is how it feels. I like 9deg of sweep and my wrists dont feel comfy with less sweep.

Find out what angles you want and go from there. Don’t pay too much attention to a lack of reviews.

Hehehe, a little bit. I’m changing because i need something stiffer, but choosing the new one, the perfect measure for me will be 70mm.

About the thomson, yesterday i’ve searched a bit and i’m very dissapointed. I had that image of indestructible thomsons and i just found out that that thing breaks easy even with a torque wrench. Maybe it is more sensitive to cracks because it isn’t forget. I would love to match the seatpost but i for what i read (if i was a few comments i would forget it but i was pages and pages of people with the same problem) thomson wouldn’t make me ride my bike with trust.

I know it isn’t featherweight. Two years ago i had a kcnc sc wing, and that thing weight like 90gr. I changed because i couldn’t trust in it.

I saw a few options:
– Easton haven – 84,95€
– FSA Afterburner – 34,95€
– FSA Gradient – 32,40€
– Funn Tron – 42,53€ (Perfect but no feedback at all)
– Pro Koryak – 29,95€
– RaceFace Turbine – 79,90€ 8Light and stiff but pricey)
– RaceFace Ride XC – 26,95€
– Ritchey WCS Trail – 59,95€ (Lightest and i know it’s stiff)

So many options that i don’t know what to buy. I like the easton haven but the race face it’s cheaper and lighter. However they’re both a little bit pricey. I would like sometime for 60€ unless would be really necessary and a long term investment.

About the bar, i had a syntace duraflite 9º and since then i love more sweepy bars, way more confortable for my wrists. I like the race face next but they cost 125€ and the noir costs 95€. The easton haven would be my first choice but it has more rise that i would like. Thomson carbon bars i can get por 105€, but the low torque limits makes me wonder how much they are protected against crush. SYnatce vector, just too much money at 180€.

Hi guys.

Any suggestion for a 70mm stem? I like the haven but wouldn’t a EA70 be enough for my use? It is cheaper and lighter.

Silver Haven 55mm for £33 on CRC

thanks cheers_drive. Damn, thats a really good price but i need something black. (in my bike i have everything black, with a silver stem would look bad)

Sorry if i’m being a little bit picky, but i like to have a nice looking bike and a bike that can do what i need to, some stairs or little drop, always having in mind that it’s a 100mm fs 29er and not a 140 or 160 or even 200mm bike.

Normally I’m the same – all finishing kit should be black but at that price I’m wondering if silver would do!

Shorter stem, wider bars. 50mm stem on a 29er of it was me. I just got some kinesis strut carbon bars from winstanlys for 80 quid and they are fantastic. They do a lower rise too.

Also Planet X are doing their el corto stems for 20 quid att he mo, half price. Might be worth a punt

cheers_drive, yeah, that price make me wonder.

howsyourdad1, thanks, that bar looks damn good! How is it stiffness and toughness? It is light, would it take some stairs or small drops without complaining about?
About the measure as i’m a small guy (1,65m) and this zone has a lot os tecnical zones, so with 720mm for example, i like the control that it gives me, but in some zones it’s really really tough to deal with (like those little tracks between a wall and a 2m hole eheh). So if i buy something larger, i’ll have to cut it to 700mm. (that’s the reason i liked the truvativ noir t30 10s)

That stem is nice too, but i really need something at 70mm. I use the bike for XC, agressive because i ride in a very steep and rocky zone, so climbing is like walls and descents are fast and furious (lol), so i need a nice measure that don’t compromise climbing also.

bar review. 168gms on my scales. Very impressed. I have punched one tree with its 750mm width

Planet X stem is 55mm , at that price it’s worth a shot I think

About the stem i already tried a 60mm and when climbing the front wheel becomes loose very easily.

I could reduce the stem lenght and add some wide to the bar, but here as there are too many technical, closed trails, i have to ride a 700mm to have some versatility. So because of that i can’t have a 60mm stem or it will mess with my position in the bike and will affect performance.

I’ve had a Shimano / Pro FRS 70mm on my full sus for the past year and a half;

http://www.pro-bikegear.com/en-gb/catalogue/components/81/stems/prss0267_main/frs-stem

Think it cost £25 new off ebay and is brilliant for the money. Its billed as a freeride stem but its as light as any XC stem I’ve seen.

I use 70mm Haven stem and EC70 bars, choose rise to suit… Very happy, didnt feel right with the low rise haven bars for me, little bit more rise and a bit less width just felt more comfortable and more stable when climbing.

I like the pro stuff. The Pro Koryak it’s a really nice stem however that white faceplate -.-‘. The FRS i like it to and it is the smartest option, however i like that cnc machined shiny look heheh.

Haven is my ideal stem (or maybe race fce turbine if it take the punch) but it is expensive. However i find it at a nice price here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EASTON-Haven-stem-2013-New-Version-All-Black-0-x-70mm-31-8-New-in-Box-/321419958364?pt=US_Stems&hash=item4ad61f585c

Do you guys know if there are some replicas like in the thomsons?

By the way, do EC70’s take serious damage? Stairs, drops (small ones) or it’s just a light race xc bar?

haven from chinese ebayars- I’d be confident they are genuine and are just avoiding importer/distributor routes. Last year Merlin in the UK were doing the Haven stem for the same sort of money in limited colours, and CRC are doing the Haven bar £23.71, ie. a third of the £70 rrp

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/easton-haven-riser-bar-2014/rp-prod123394

(listed at 27 but take another 15% off at basket).

Just because its cheap doesnt mean its fake!

I have a haven bar and stem, and bought a second cheap CRC haven bar as a spare. It even came in retail packaging box not just a plastic bag.

You want a Thomson, buy a Thomson.

I’ve had them on lots of bikes, 25.4mm and OS, and have one on my hybrid thing that gets used for CX duties. I’m a big fat biffer and can ride like a hooligan when it matters. I’ve never seen one break.

How can anyone break a Thomson?

Damn!!! Those Haven stuff are sexy! And that price…
However i need something with lower rise and carbon if possible. The only reason the easton haven carbon isn’t chosen is because of the rise and price.

Well, i love thomson bling and as a heavy rider in technical trail, every trust and reliability i can have, it’s welcome. Also Stems and bars are one of those parts that we don’t care but if they broke while riding, start the prays loool. Also i can buy the thomson x4 for 55€, 30€ less than the haven or the rf turbine, but i searched a little bit and my trust in that stem was completly broken. Tons os people talking about crack, even with torque wrenchs. However i understand that lots of them don’t know how to proper install it or that a torque wrench has some error and qhen it says max 5Nm is not to torque it to 5Nm if possible, but there are so many that i have to give up. However i search and i keep finding them in top notch machines all over the internet and people and magazine reviews talking wonders about them, so i’m in that spot that i really don’t know what should i do, and that’s the reason of this topic.
Should i trust them?

After that i started searching and found so many options that i really can’t know what to look for.

(I currently ride syntace f149, and if i could afford it, it would be the megaforce2, but 120€ for a stem, i can buy tons of good stems xD)

Thanks a lot for all you help guys! You’re great!!

I’ve had the same 70mm Thompson X4 stem on a variety of bikes since 2007 when it came with an Ex hire Commencal Mini DH from Les 2 Alpes it’s taken a beating on everything from XC to jump bikes and DH bikes and is currently on my Bro’s bike being abused. Still going strong. Thinking of nicking it back but donit need a 70mm stem.
As said above “If you want a Thompson, buy a Thompson”. Anything you buy could break

I’ve had loads of Thomson stems and I’m a heavy rider. Had them on dh bikes and full rigid cx bikes and never had a single problem. Fit it right and fit it once. I’ve seen raceface, pro, Easton, all sorts of stuff snap. I only use Thomson and have done for some time.
People generally think that stems need cranking up as tight as possible or they will die in a fantastic style. They them blame the stem when the bolts round off or snap or the face plates crack.

Thanks guys. Well the stem is in the market for ages, so to begin with, it’s way more likely to see someone complaining about than other stem that is in the market for 2 or 3 years. Other thing is that people think thomson it’s like war tanks or something (i though that a few years ago lol), so adding the fact that it’s cnc machined and not forget, is more likely to develop cracks, even with their super pure alloys.

I saw some Rf Turbines cracked, heard about easton haven twisted, tons of problems, so, i think i’ll go with the thomson because they all can have problems.

About the bar. What do you guys think? Anyone tried a truvativ noir t30 10s carbon, does it take some stairs and little drops? Or a thomson bar (i’ll prefer 9º bars)? Or a rf next? Or some suggestion?
The perfect bar would be 700mm/710mm, 9º or a little more or less backsweep, a little bit upsweep would be welcome too and flat or very low rise.

The perfect bar would be 700mm/710mm, 9º or a little more or less backsweep

If you really want carbon

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-warhead-760-carbon-riser-bars-2014/rp-prod92346

£72 after weekend promo component discount auto applied a basket, then use KSVAZ to take another £5 off. And cut them down. Or get the alloy ones for pennies from CRC

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-easton-haven-alloy-bars-now-a-mere-2371-crc

Thanks for the help. I already saw these 2 and i like them, but they have too many rise for me (small guy, small bike, 29er to make it worse). Ideally a flat bar.

Anyone have a truvativ Noir T30 10S carbon bar, or have ridden one?

agressive xc/light trail

All these crazy descriptions.

Anyhow, Thomson stems are just awesome. I’m a Thomson tart, but used various versions over the years and never and one crack. Never actually ever heard of one cracking. But for your ‘riding style’ they’ll be fine.

heheh, well this description it’s a way that saying that i do XC, (i like to climb and i like to descend), however i’m a heavy guy (97kg) and as i started to ride in downhill and just 5 years ago i start praticing xc, so, i like to shred.

So, sometimes, he came across some rocky sections worst than Dh tracks and trails so cool that it was a shame if i didn’t enjoy them because i have fear of broke something that was built for normal xc. In resume, i need something that can take some trail/Am use and not with DH weight.

Thanks, it will be thomson. However in the bar i’m not sure what to choose. Has anyone tried the truvativ noir carbon bars?