Race Face teased their new 35mm bar and stem line up recently, and now it’s official, along with their all-new Aeffect saddles.
The 35mm diameter clamp zone will spread across their entire range of bars, from alloy to carbon, top to bottom, and initially include Atlas stems. There are two other stems on deck, but we can’t tell you about those yet (we’ve seen prototypes, and they’re sweet. One’s a completely new design. Don’t worry, they’ll go live in a couple weeks.).
The best part about the new bars? They maintain the strength of the originals but get wider and lighter, which they could do because the larger diameter center section lets them use thinner walled tubing (for the alloy ones). They pushed the wider center clamp section out further, too, which saved weight, and the entire package tests with better fatigue life.
Above, the heavy duty carbon SixC line gets three options: flat, low rise and high rise…
The more XC-oriented Next gets two , a flat-top and a low rise. We’ll have full specs updated here shortly on the bars.
The carbon bars come with two cut marks to chop 12.5mm and 25mm off, saving 3g and 6g respectively.
The Atlas DH-level alloy bars all grow wider but drop roughly 40g compared to the originals. (Exact specs coming soon). Three versions will be offered: flat top, low rise and high rise.
Sam Richards, design engineer, says the big difference between these compared to Easton and the others is that “we’re not looking for a stiffer bar. We’re looking for something that’s lighter but just as strong as our originals.”
Here’s a little comparison between the current 31.8 and the new 35mm on the Turbines. Above, the original has the whiter graphics, the new one is on the bottom. Actual production graphics on the 35mm bars will be a bit brighter than what’s shown here.
The 35mm flat bar (top) gets a slightly revised shape, too, getting a flat-top design rather than an equal taper. That gives it about a 5mm “rise”. Both new bars are slightly wider than the outgoing versions.
To hold them, they’ll offer 35mm ID Atlas stems. The blue ones here, however gorgeous they may be, won’t be offered immediately. But, they suspect you’ll let them know in the comments how much you want them. Have at it. At launch, you’ll get black only.
Three lengths will be offered, including this 35mm long stubby.
The new Aeffect saddles bring about their first completely new product line since the restructuring. Three colors at launch, blue, red and black, with a honeycombed shell and ti/chromo alloy rails to keep them light but strong.
They have a flat shape for easy maneuvering on top. Richards says they used a firm foam because it keeps you up on your sit bones and not down on your sensitive bits, so there was no need for a love channel.
Claimed weight is 240g, and this one hit spot on.
Check back soon for a complete spec update, or hit their booth at Crankworx this weekend for some hands on time. And look for lots more killer new stuff in two weeks!
