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Intend Grace your mountain bike cockpit with alternative-look stems for all disciplines

intend-grace-trail-stem-65mm-reach
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Cornelius Kapfinger of Intend Bicycle Components has revamped his lineup of Intend Grace Stems, adding a new “Freeride” stem in the process. Another new stem, so what? These are different. They don’t conform to the traditional two-piece four-bolt face-plate stem design. The Intend Grace Stems are composed of a single piece of CNC’d aluminium, with two bolts clamping at the steerer, and two bolts clamping at the bar. The handlebar simply slides through the stem into place. Intend say this design is the best technical solution for fixing two cylindrical tubes to one another.

Intend Grace Stems

INTEND-GRACE-STEM

Why change a tried and tested design, you say? Well, the basic concept of the Intend Grace stems isn’t entirely original. Cornelius says that the design was in use 20 years ago, but became impractical with the growing trend for riser bars, which brings me to my next point.

intend-grace-dh-stem-35mm-clamp
The Intend Grace Stems are generally only compatible with handlebars of up to 20mm-25mm rise, manufacturer dependent

The Intend Grace Stems have limited handlebar compatibility with respect to the rise parameter, for the simple reason that the bend prevents you from fitting them. Cornelius simply wanted to produce a stem that “stands out due to its different nature and thus exerts a charm”. He argues that the incompatibility with certain riser bars is becoming less relevant with the increased popularity of 29ers with their taller front ends. A rise of 20mm-25mm is the compatibility limit for most handlebars. That said, the stems can take a maximum rise of 10mm for certain bars such as Renthal Carbon and Hope bars.

intend-grace-fr-freeride-stem-318-35-clamp
The new Intend Grace FR stem has a length of 35mm and is available in both 31.8mm and 35mm clamp diameters

The guy certainly achieved what he set out to. The Intend Grace Stems are very nice to look at, as stems go. The design bestows a clean finish upon the cockpit, with fewer bolts and gaps to look at. It’s simple, neat, and the chamfered edges look good too. Throughout the lineup, from DH to Cyclocross, the size of the chamfer increases in proportion with the length of the stem. The bar clamp edges are also rounded off, meant to be better for carbon handlebars.intend-grace-enduro-freeride-stems-mtb

Left: Intend Grace EN; Right: Intend Grace FR. Intend say the blue anodization is variable as it cannot be tightly controlled.Due to a lack of clarity around the nomenclature of the Intend Grace lineup and each stem’s intended use, Cornelius has reshuffled the range. The previously named Intend Grace Trail Stem, with a 50mm reach, has been renamed the Grace EN. This is to make it clear that the stem is strong enough to handle gravity mountain biking loads, as it passes the gravity test standard at the EFBE test laboratory. The new Grace Trail stem is longer, with a reach of 65mm.

stem-65mm-reach
The new Intend Grace Trail Stem has a 65mm reach, available in a 31.8mm clamp size only
77MM STEM 90MM STEM XC CYCLOCROSS
The Intend Grace Stems for XC and Cyclocross are angled such that the bar sits lower than the steerer clamp area

The Intend Grace XC and CC models remain unchanged, with reaches of 77mm and 90mm, respectively. These stems, designed for disciplines where climbing performance is of greater import, are angled downwards with respect to the steerer. The XC stem has a drop of -7°. The CC stem drops at an angle of -12°. This is in contrast to the more gravity-focused stems which are angled upwards, placing the bar higher than the steerer clamp area.

handlebar stem clamp adapter

Intend also make a handlebar clamp adapter. It is essentially a sleeve that reduces the diameter of the stem clamp region from 35mm to 31.8mm to allow you to mount the narrower bar. This will be necessary if you want to run a 31.8mm bar with the Intend Grace DH stem which is only available in a 35mm clamp version. The adapter is carbon handlebar compatible and will set you back €24.

Pricing & Availability

The Intend Grace 31.8mm clamp FR stem with 35mm reach

All Intend Grace stems are made in Germany, including the black-coated grade 5 titanium bolts. All are available now, in black, raw and blue, direct from Intend.

Intend Stem Reach (mm) Clamp Size Options (mm) Claimed Weight Price
Grace DH 60 35 113g € 169
Grace FR 35 35 & 31.8 80g € 149
Grace EN 50 35 & 31.8 88g € 159
Grace Trail 65 31.8 95g € 169
Grace XC 77 31.8 79g € 179
Grace CC 90 31.8 87g € 189

 

intend-bc.com

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9 Comments
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Andrew
Andrew
4 years ago

These look awesome – I just wish they came in more lengths!

badbikemechanicx
badbikemechanicx
4 years ago

Made the mistake of buying a stem without a removable faceplate once. Never again.

Ant'ney
Ant'ney
4 years ago

I made the same mistake….. 25 years ago. Non-removable face plates belong on quill stems… and even those are better now….

Greg
Greg
4 years ago

I’ve got one of the Grace CC stems on my mountain bike. They’re sweet.
You can also look at a similar, less flashy, but also cheaper stem in various lengths, with the Newmen Evolution SL 3!8.2 (what a name)…

Justin Walsh
Justin Walsh
4 years ago

Piggyback on the 77Designz one-piece stems.
I have one of the 77 stems, and its a real nice piece. I’m running a 20mm rice RF bar and it was effortless to install. If you think about how many times you remove the bars from the stem, you realize that the removable faceplate adds necessary complexity, and sliding off the brake lever an grip is not a chore worth whining about anyway.

Justin Walsh
Justin Walsh
4 years ago
Reply to  Justin Walsh

*rise
**unnecessary

Hannes
Hannes
4 years ago
Reply to  Justin Walsh

I think it is the Other way. This stem has been around for a while and Well know among enthusiasts in Germany. If you compare Intend and 77 and keep in mind that the Intend came before the 77, you have to come to the conclusion that 77 simply copied intends product and only moved the Position of the Bolts. Like a Kid copying homework and “changing” it so the teacher won’t notice.
77 makes cool stuff, especially the kavenz project is awesome. But for copying the stem i must say: shame on you 77 designz

Brad Comis (@BradComis)

100% the best looking mountain bike stem available in the world right now. Hoping to buy one later this year.

Pinko
Pinko
4 years ago

File in the “lifestyle” folder.

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