Race Face Does the Big Tease for 35mm Handlebars, Stems

I thought it would be 38mm handlebars.

I am addicted to new technology……. but the bike industry has to go easy on the ‘Local Bike Shop” with all these new standards. question: How many different bottom brackets should your local bike shop have in inventory, so when you need one last minute, you don’t think they suck?

Two current clamp options is a lot? I don’t think it is. We handled the change to 31.8, and we’ll handle the addition of 35.0. We don’t know if this will stick, or supplant 31.8, but if it does either, it will be no big deal. A good deal of shops only stock cursory options anyway, because there’s too much diversity and personal preference. As far as bottom brackets go, though, I agree. I’m still happy with JIS. BB30, though noticeably stiffer than all other options, is a pain. Direct spindle-to-bearing-to-frame contact is just asking for it. Ham-fist the first installation (guilty), and the bb click will never go away. As far as the other press-fit options go, I cannot keep them straight. Making the highest torque part on the frame plastic just worsens the problems.

let’s not talk about headset “standards” either.

“Yet where riders put most weight and power, we carry on with the 9/16″ pedal spindle.”

Shhhhhhhhhh! They’ll hear you.

I dunno. I think there is some merit to this 35mm thing. I mean, it’s slightly more than 10% larger in diameter, so it must be magically “lighter and stiffer” – as we all know that larger-diameter-parts-that-we-don’t-yet-own always are.

At the store I work at we can get most parts from our suppliers within 24 hours, we don’t find it necessary to keep “one of everything”.

This might be progress, it might be cynical attempt to briefly corner a market that supplies new tech hungry riders with deep pockets. Time will tell, but it’s not really worth getting upset about.

BB30 – yeah, it’s not great. As a mechanic the 10 minutes it takes me to replace an Hollowtech/GXP/Ultra Torque outboard BB and the reasonable replacement price puts the threaded shell and outboard cup system at the summit of modern BB technology.

Also show us the engineering behind all this. Larger Outer diameter means nothing with out a discussion about wall thickness and mass. This is just pure marketing. Bring back 25.4 is say!!
So bogus

I’m with Loyd this is Total [deleted], 25.4 is Fine for Most applications, 31.8 is Definitely strong enough, and if it isn’t I want to see metallurgical advances Not simply a marketing ploy

holy cow. some of you luddites ain’t even stuck in the 90’s. you’re stuck in the 50’s or worse, your great grandmothers womb.

i think it would be entirely acceptable if every bike brand had a unique BB, HS… etc for each model. who cares. does the EGR valve on your ’09 mazda 3 fit your friends ’96 civic? no. it probably doesn’t even fit the same year mazda of a diff model.

I do find that a bigger bar improves stiffness immeasurably when there’s a 2.4″ balloon of rubber twisting about on the ground and 160mm of fork stanchion hanging out of my fork lowers. Oh, wait. No. No it doesn’t. I was also happy on 25.4mm, one of my bikes still runs it, and this constant strive for “bigger” in the bar/stem area is utterly pointless on mountain bikes. On road bikes it’s another story, though.

While I hate new standards and agree with point about how that affects local shops potentially.

But…I held out on 31.8, but would never go back to anything smaller now. 35mm bars actually are based off sound engineering. Easton for instance was able to make bars lighter, stiffer, and beat their standards.

31.8 was a blessing for shops. Prior, mtb stems had a different spec than road. Road had two different standards. Now only one stem is needed for stock.

Does everyone need it? Probably not. But I’m 220lbs and 6’2″. I like BB40, tapered steerers, big posts, and excited for 35. Doesn’t mean you should, but it works for me.

You know when this will all truly sucketh? When the zombie apocalypse hits and we’ll all be scavenging a wide grey wasteland looking for random parts to keep our bikes rolling, all while staying on the run from zombies… …”Amen! A handlebar! Yes, I can finally.. wait… whuuuat? It won’t fit my stem!?!? Must. cram. bar. into. stem…. Aaaaaaaaarrrrgh!” Crunch! – as a zombie chomps my ankle.

Until then, I say bring on the evolution of bike part awesomeness. I love me some mail-order goodies.

First one to 40 wins!

1st the bars got longer-now bigger around…….can I gets some of that stuff?