Bars and Stem

As part of the Fork upgrade, I decided to change the Bars and Stem.
The Stem was changed for a shorter model, this was to help speed up the steering and to get my weight further back.
I found that even uphill I was spinning up the back wheel, a shorter stem should sort this and keep my weight further back on the fast downhill sections.
a quick search and a stem was found,
The Funnduro from Funn  http://www.funnmtb.com/   is a short stem aimed at the enduro market.
beautifully machined from 6061 aluminium and fitted with steel bolts the Funnduro weighs in at 123g
the stem has a low clamp height of 30mm to keep things low at the front, the other dimensions are a rise of 0 degrees a 31.8mm clamp diameter and a length of 45mm.
The Funduro is also available in a range of colours to keep the colour match theme going Red, Black, Silver, Blue and  Orange are all available.
and the all important cost was a very good £33.99

 The bars I chose were from Superstar Components, http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/,
I chose the Descent 780-25 Bar,
The Descent is constructed from 7075 aerospace grade aluminium and is multibutted to keep the weight low and strength high.
As the name suggests the bars are 780mm wide (but come with screen printed cut marks)
and feature a 25mm rise, they feature a 8 degree back sweep and 5 degree upsweep which for me is just about perfect.
The bars are a nice 345g, light yet stiff. They are available in all the colours of the rainbow so finding a colour match shouldn't be an issue,i chose white to fit in with the blue stem and keep the colour theme going from the frame, all this for a fantastic price of £34.99



 Did they make a difference? you bet, as well as being a lot lighter than the factory fitted bars, the bike now seems to fit better, my weight further back and my arms wider apart, this is a good way to improve your breathing as it opens the chest up. The wider bars provide plenty of leaverage to turn the big 29" wheels, my only concern was that the stem would flex under the leaverage of the wide bars, I needn't of worried the Funnduro is stiff enough to cope well. I also think they look better but that's just my opinion.

Any down sides? only a couple, the bars are very wide on the road, this creates a bigger target for car drivers, and the width needs watching in the woods, it is very easy to clip a tree, other than that I feel this is a very worthwhile upgrade which has made a good handling bike even better !