the story so far…..
The chameleon needs new bits (chainsett, bar & stem, brakes) and I asked some questions in here. The results were as expected so im going to get the xt brakes from rose bikes. Just ordered the slx chainsett from crc.
As for the bar and stem, well my initial choices were for some crank brothers bits but that idea was shot down in flames, not just here but at a couple of shops who stock it too…
So what bar and stem combo would people recomend for agressive trail/am hardtail? Preferably under the ton mark for the pair. And yes my brain is STILL melting under the strain 😡
Cheers

IME it all works OK, none of it will ruin/change your life, I just buy what’s cheap and light.

Hope am stem and the discounted sunline bars from crc would be my choice as i have them 🙂

Sunline bars, and your choice of thomson/easton/renthal stem

Nuke proof warhead stuff looks good

Ive got to admit I was looking at the sunline stuff but dont know much about them…. And as you say jamesy crc is only £25 atm. Are they good then?
Cheers

I just bought this from on-one.

Bargain!(thats if the stem isnt too long for you.)

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/STFSGAPMTB/fsa_gap_mtb_stem

Plenty of bars to choose from.
http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/bars_and_grips/mtb_bars

I was after a white bar and went for the FSA Maximus bar.

Cheap as chips and well made. What more could you want?

what’s the difference between a good stem/bar and a passable one?

The Syntace bars are looovely, especially the ones with 12 degrees of back sweep. As for the stem, get a Thomson.

what’s the difference between a good stem/bar and a passable one?

Bar: IMO comfort (up sweep, back sweep, width and vibration damping), stiffness and weight. Very very few do the lot.

Stem: Reliability and length. A 90mm Cross country stem is not a good choice for a downhiller, whilst some DH stems can be up to 100 grams heavier than a nice 50mm Thomson stem.

P.S. That FSA stem is great for the price. I’d have that.

If I could afford it id have the easton haven set but thats a little too much. The nukeproof bits look good and will probably look at the syntace stuff tomorrow. Cheers for the suggestions

Yes the sunline bars are great i went with the 745mm and the low rise , feels perfect to me

The syntace stuff is also good as said above i only changed as i wanted a wider bar. I’ve got a low rise syntace bar i no longer need. email in profile if your interested bud.

For the current price on crc sunline bar & stem no questions, £50 – £60 for both, quality products, strong….light…cheap how often does that happen?

I’ve run sunline kit on my last couple of bikes and it’s great kit. (sunline logo grips are also ace)

Jamesy, ta for the offer but I have a phobia of second hand bars after I had one fail on cut gate in derbyshire…. Boy meets gritstone shelf at high speed…. Ouch!
I reckon that the sunline v1 for £25 on crc is a steal, but they dont have the matching am stem (i know… Tart!) However a 65mm thomson is looking good too (why dont thomson make bars too?). As are the nuke proof bits Decisions, decisions hmmmmmm
Cheers