Renthal Bar, Stem & Grips

Renthal’s trademark golden-colored bars and stems have been appearing on the pointy end of DH riders’ bikes (such as Sam Hill) since about 2011. Their range covers far more than DH only, however, and Matt Lee already covered some of their Trail/AM stuff a few months ago.

We recently had an Ibis Mojo HDR 3 to test, and it came spec’d with a 740mm wide bar – not enough span for a size L – so I dipped into the tickle trunk and pulled out some Renthal goodies: a Fatbar Carbon, a Duo stem, and a set of Kevlar lock-on grips.

Fatbar Carbon
At 780mm wide, this is Renthal’s widest carbon bar. Some DH purists might want the full ocho, and I’ve been happily running 800mm wide on AM bikes for a year now, but I didn’t mind stepping down by 2 cm at all. With a 20mm Rise (10, 30 & 40 also available) a 7º back and 5º upsweep, dimensions were pretty standard, and the bar was easy to roll into position and get into a comfortable place. Note that Renthal’s bars and stems all use the 31.8mm standard – they clearly haven’t felt the need to go to 35mm yet (or we just haven’t heard about it).

The clamping section has a rough patch to create extra friction at the stem interface, allowing better clamp bite with a little less bolt torque – always a nice touch. The ends also have cut lines if you want to run it narrower than 780mm. Ours weighed five grams more than the published weight of 225g.

The Fatbar Carbon is stiff, of course, but not as stiff as the burly Race Face SixC. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as too much stiffness in a bar can start to work over your wrists if you’re logging lots of saddle time. Overall it felt about right for a bar meant for AM/DH duty. Definitely recommended – if you dig the colour scheme and don’t need to go wider than 780.

Duo Stem
If the Fatbar Carbon looks somewhat conventional, minus the gold and black graphics, the Duo stem does not. It is machined from two distinct pieces (top and bottom) of 6082 T6 alloy so that Renthal can remove a bit of extra material from the inside of the stem. It is a very low-profile piece that looks sleek on the front of the bike, with two clamp bolts that make it look like a wide-eyed grumpy toad. The cradle is shaped like a U, so the bar is nicely supported. In addition to the two front clamp bolts, two more are recessed on the back side of the bar, running in the opposite direction to the two up front. It’s a tidy design, and at 124g (ours hit the weight bang on) it’s reasonably light as well.

Lock-on Grips – Kevlar resin
Renthal sells a variety of lock-on grips in different compounds that feature varying amounts of tackiness, absorption, durability, and…control. I get the first three, but control is a tenuous one to me. According to their ratings, the soft compounds offer less durability (makes sense) but less ‘control’ also. Strange. The Kevlar grips offer the greatest number of ‘stars’, so of course I picked those. But actually, I liked the feel of them best and they also apparently offered the best durability. The tackiness is really nice – just a tiny bit extra when it’s wet out – and the width felt perfect. One of my new faves.

Renthal’s aftermarket cockpit options have so far proven reliable in use, and easy to install. The bars are well shaped and feel ‘right’, stems are well-designed, weight for all pieces is spot-on, and pricing is on par with similar options on the market. For my money, any of these pieces would feel like money well spent.

Renthal Fatbar Carbon $164.95
Renthal Duo Stem $99.95
Renthal Kevlar Lock-on grips $32.95 (other compounds $29.95)

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Who wants a grumpy toad for the front of their iron horse?