riser bars/stem angle??

[Alan McClure]

This may be a simple/stupid question, but what the hell difference is there between having a riser
bar and a stem that has more of an inclined angle to raise a flat bar up? It doesn't seem to me,
that there would be any difference, but I'm sure I'm wrong, or why would riser bars even exist.
Don't tell me it is a style thing.

Alan McClure

 

[Matthew Paterso]

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 17:47:02 +0000, Alan McClure wrote:

> Don't tell me it is a style thing.

But riser bars do have a better angle and layback than a flat bar, crazy angle stem combo.

--
Matt

Fear of a flat planet

 

[Craig Brossman]

"Alan McClure" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:qKCPa.36069$Ph3.2985@sccrnsc04...
> This may be a simple/stupid question, but what the hell difference is there between having a riser
> bar and a stem that
has
> more of an inclined angle to raise a flat bar up? It doesn't seem to me, that there would be any
> difference, but I'm sure I'm wrong, or why would riser bars even exist. Don't tell me it is a
> style thing.
>
> Alan McClure
>
>

Fair question, and probably there is very little difference, but in general, it seems that risers
are a little wider than mot flat bars and they also bend back a bit. Personally, I like the
increased width of my risers and since I ride very few trails with close trees, I don't miss shorter
flat bars.

Also, with risers, you can rotate them front or back, thus changing the reach a bit as well. In
small, subtle ways, it seems to me that risers give you a little more adjustability than flats w/ a
higher stem. YMMV.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado (remove .nospam. if replying)

 

[Vertexsc]

"Alan McClure" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:qKCPa.36069$Ph3.2985@sccrnsc04...
> This may be a simple/stupid question, but what the hell difference is there between having a riser
> bar and a stem that
has
> more of an inclined angle to raise a flat bar up? It doesn't seem to me, that there would be any
> difference, but I'm sure I'm wrong, or why would riser bars even exist. Don't tell me it is a
> style thing.
>
> Alan McClure
>
>
Your totally right there, there's abolutely no difference between the two. Nowadays both flat- and
riserbars are available in 3,5,6,7,9,11 etc. degrees bend and in all widths. BTW ever heard of the
syntace VRO system?? www.syntace.com IMHO the the best and even better of both worlds,

Mars

 

[Squid-In-Traini]

> But riser bars do have a better angle and layback than a flat bar, crazy angle stem combo.

You almost never see any flat bars with an angle greater than 5 degrees, while risers have more
motorcycle-like bends.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

 

[Mark Hickey]

"Craig Brossman" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"Alan McClure" <[email protected]> wrote

>> This may be a simple/stupid question, but what the hell difference is there between having a
>> riser bar and a stem that
>has
>> more of an inclined angle to raise a flat bar up? It doesn't seem to me, that there would be any
>> difference, but I'm sure I'm wrong, or why would riser bars even exist. Don't tell me it is a
>> style thing.

>Fair question, and probably there is very little difference, but in general, it seems that risers
>are a little wider than mot flat bars and they also bend back a bit. Personally, I like the
>increased width of my risers and since I ride very few trails with close trees, I don't miss
>shorter flat bars.

I've done both - I used to ride very narrow, tree-lined trails and ended up cutting an inch off each
end of my (already narrow) straight bars. That isn't what I'd do now that I ride in wide-open
Arizona (trees? What are trees?).

>Also, with risers, you can rotate them front or back, thus changing the reach a bit as well. In
>small, subtle ways, it seems to me that risers give you a little more adjustability than flats w/ a
>higher stem. YMMV.

Craig got it dead on. If you have a flat bar and riser with the same sweep and the same width,
there would be no difference at all (other than the fact the flat bar/riser stem combo would weigh
less). Heh.

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[Mark Hickey]

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email protected]> wrote:

>> But riser bars do have a better angle and layback than a flat bar, crazy angle stem combo.
>
>You almost never see any flat bars with an angle greater than 5 degrees, while risers have more
>motorcycle-like bends.

True for most of 'em sold - but the others are out there...

9 degree - Titec Flat-Tracker (640mm width) 11 degree - Salsa Pro Moto (660mm width) 15 degree -
Kalloy Flat Bar (560mm) 15 degree - Surly Torsion Bar (620mm)

With a combination of one of the above and a riser stem, you should pretty much be able to replicate
almost any riser bar / normal stem combination.

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[Super Slinky]

Alan McClure said...

> This may be a simple/stupid question, but what the hell difference is there between having a riser
> bar and a stem that has more of an inclined angle to raise a flat bar up? It doesn't seem to me,
> that there would be any difference, but I'm sure I'm wrong, or why would riser bars even exist.
> Don't tell me it is a style thing.
>
> Alan McClure

I think it started because with a riser you can add a support across the bend so that you get a bar
with much more strength and rigidity, although you don't see that support much anymore. Also don't
forget that with a riser bar you can change the tilt and get different riding positions. If you go
the flat bar + riser stem route you should remember that the rise takes away from the effective
length of the stem. It's easy to figure out the effective length:

effective length = cos(angle)*length

So if you have a 110mm stem, a 25 degree angle will effectively make it a 100mm stem.

You can also figure out how much rise you will get with a riser stem:

rise = sin(angle)*length

Unfortunately, there aren't that many stems available with a big angle.

 

[Mark Hickey]

Super Slinky <[email protected]> wrote:

>If you go the flat bar + riser stem route you should remember that the rise takes away from the
>effective length of the stem. It's easy to figure out the effective length:
>
>effective length = cos(angle)*length
>
>So if you have a 110mm stem, a 25 degree angle will effectively make it a 100mm stem.
>
>You can also figure out how much rise you will get with a riser stem:
>
>rise = sin(angle)*length

Or if you're lazy, you can go to:

http://www.habcycles.com/fitting.html

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[Super Slinky]

Mark Hickey said...

> Or if you're lazy, you can go to:
>
> http://www.habcycles.com/fitting.html

Cool.