Answer Products has been around for awhile, and just like Manitou, Answer is coming back on the scene with a plethora of new parts for the front of your bike. While the Answer Rove DJ and DH stem have been blowing up with popularity, the absence of any all mountain type stems left a glaring hole in their line up. Now more than ever, riders on 4 to 6 inch travel bikes are looking for more front end stiffness, especially when coupled with the wider bars that are becoming more and more popular.
The aptly named AM Stem should slot into that void nicely and is available in 5 sizes from 60 to 100mm in length in 10 mm increments. Target weight for a 100mm stem is 185 grams of 3D forged 6066 with post CNC’d finish goodness. Obviously the AM Stem won’t be the lightest on the market, but it looks good and will most likely be very stiff. There will only be 31.8 mm clamps and 8 degree rise models to start.
Answer also had a new version of the Rove Direct Mount stem on display, which I’ll show you along with the new bars right after the break!
Dubbed the -1 DH Stem for obvious reasons, the new version of the Rove DH takes the current design and drops an additional 20mm of bar height to guarantee one of the lowest bar heights in the game. Originally designed primarily for the 26 inch DH crowd, the folks at Answer were surprised by the response from guys running or building long travel 29’rs obviously looking to lower the front end due to the larger wheel. The -1 DH is made from 7075 aluminum, weighs 155 grams and will be offered in 50 and 55mm lengths. Consumers can choose from a black or white faceplate which both come with A2 Stainless hardware.
Getting away from the AM/FR/DH side of things, the new Protaper Carbon XC bar is all about speed. The Protaper Carbon AM bars have been on the scene for awhile and have gotten great reviews, so you better believe the XC bars are going to be hot especially for the likes of 29’rs to get the bars down low. The nice thing about the XC bars is that they are not an old school flat bar coming in at 660mm wide, which is the standard width for a lot of stock trail bikes!
Like all Protaper Carbon products, the XC bars have Protaper patented tapered walls that put more material at the clamp than at the ends. Also, all of the carbon offerings from Answer offer a grip grit clamping area, which is basically grip tape for your stem. I can assure you that the Protaper Carbon XC bar is not the last XC product from Answer, with possibly a Rove XC stem in the works? You didn’t hear it from me.
Going along with the whole company’s seemingly universal mantra of fun, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the cutting guide on the Answer bars. What are you, Hipster or Hucker?
Along with Manitou’s new QR15 system, this was the other “psss, come check this out!” product I was lucky enough to see at the answer booth. Apparently, Answer is experimenting with a new film anodization process which is possible of yielding and extremely durable skull finish you see here. Keep in mind that this is actually etched into the bar now, it is not a wrap or paint – very cool.
