Stems, bars, posts – What's the best own brand kit?

Having recently regretted swapping out some perfectly reasonable own brand stem, seat post and handlebars on my Genesis IO for some fancy looking but actually not very good Ritchey ones, I was wondering what does anyone think is the best own brand kit out there in terms of it looking good, working well and standing up to some abuse?

Like my Genesis kit it often ends up on eBay so I might try and grab a bargain.

Cheers

Have an obsession with Chromag meself but it may not suit your bike. Chromag are a very small outfit and everything looks hand-made.

Could always go the safe route with Race Face/Hope etc or Funn if you like gnar without the expense.

Would have suggested Sunline but they’ve withdrawn from the MTB market.

Thomson also most excellent but they don’t make bars

something tells me that rocketman didn’t read the OP 😉

sunline and nukeproof is tough and pretty cheap, which is always good.

rocketman – Member

Would have suggested Sunline but they’ve withdrawn from the MTB market.

Surprised by that – URL?

Edit: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

something tells me that rocketman didn’t read the OP

Oops 🙂

Surprised by that – URL?

http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,257741.0.html

Why own brand?

Bontrager stuff is good.

I have to wonder though:

fancy looking but actually not very good Ritchey ones

Judged how? Some of their bars are a quirky shape, which is personal, but how does one decide finishing kit is ‘not very good’?

the syntace stuff that comes on cubes seem pretty good.

they are ok on my stereo but i do have a hankering for something more pimp looking, like some renthals 🙂

Syntace are a separate company though.

Why own brand?

OP is looking for OEM removed from new bike bargains.

Giant kit is nice – connect SL stems bars and seatposts go for pretty cheap on the bay.

Some of the Giant stuff is pretty good, but there are lots of different levels, so you need to make sure you’re not buying the cheap rubbish stuff. “Connect SL” is reasonably light for the money.

I was thinking about upgrading some of the Giant bits that came with my Anthem X2 and mid to upper level alu parts from Thomson, Easton etc would not be that much lighter than the stock Giant stuff.

Edit:- spookily beaten to it by seconds by the post above!

njee20 i am aware they are seperate, but so common on cube as standard fit, i just see them being sold of cheap.

Aye, reasonable point, just meant that just because there will be some Cube/Syntace stuff going cheap it doesn’t really stand to reason that Syntace will be cheap full stop. Imagine their F119 stems will be in demand currently – they’re about the only aftermarket option for Giant Overdrive bikes!

Some of the Ragley kit looks pretty good

+1 for Giant stuff but they only do 30.9 mtb seat posts.

got quite a bit of spesh stuff knocking about, bars, stems and seatposts. Not overly heavy quite sturdy perfectly adequate for the job.

The Bontrager stuff that comes on Trek bikes, while not strictly ‘own brand’ does look pretty nice.

The Specialized stuff that came off my Stumpjumper was perfectly functional and the bars were actually lighter than the KCNC replacements (although they were a bit narrower).
But, they just looked really cheap & boring, so that was the only reason for the change. Shallow, I know!

I have kona bars on one of my road bikes, I know its completely not what you’re looking for, but i really like them.

The Bontrager stuff that comes on Trek bikes, while not strictly ‘own brand’ does look pretty nice.

I have 2 unused XXX Lite stems kicking about, found out they are £170 RRP, more than most of the boutiquey brands! 😯

Their Race Lite/Race X Lite stuff is nice, but I guess probably not likely to be found cheap aftermarket in such quantities as true ‘own’ brands.

Genesis kit is usually good. But you already know that. 😉
Spesh kit is usually good too.

Aftermarket…Thomson with Easton bars has been my choice for a long time, but looking for a nice wide flat carbon bar in NON o/s if anyone can recomend owt…? Was thinking Sunnline till I read above.

I once picked up a Da Bomb stem cheap off CRC that was really nice for the pittance (£8) that I paid.