[pbbreath]

Working on the Geometry of my 08 El Guapo....

I'm currently Running
660mm Bars 1.5 Rise - Titec Hellbent - Cheap
90mm Stem - Cheap Specialized takeoff
40+mm Spacers - Ugly, Pointless?

I want to go to -
Longer Bars - 685mm-710mm - 2.25" Rise - Open to Suggestions
Shorter Stem - 65mm - Sunline Vone
Shorter Stack - Because they're lame looking.

I'm very comfortable with the current position of my bike but the more and more I read about "All Mountain" setups it appears I'm stuck in the 90's long stem narrow bars era. Hell until recently I was running 635mm bars.

What do you all think? You're thoughts are appreciated...PB

 

[titusbro]

Sunline...

I recently switched from Thomson 90mm stem-10 degree rise and 27" Monkey Lite to a Sunline V-One 29.5" 1.5" rise bar and a Sunline V-One 80mm-0 degree rise stem. I also dropped down 2 spacers with this setup.

The bar took about a week to start to feel right on the climbs but it is the shiz-nit on the DH! The control through rock gardens and scree is unbelievable!

I had read (in an mtb rag) that a wider bar effectively lengthens the top tube, therefore allowing for a shorter stem.

For right now, I am totally happy with this setup.

 

[zorg]

Check out the Sunline bars.

There's no perfect bar length. It's all a matter of preference. I'm happy with 27" (685). If you're not sure, you can always go to 28" and reduce the length until you find the right combo. Obviously, a wider bar requires a shorter stem. I'm not sure what the ratio is though.

 

[woodyak]

I was in the same boat as you when I went to the El Guapo. I had super narrow bars (I have no idea how wide) and a 90mm stem. Since then I'm riding pretty wide bars (29"?) and a 50mm stem. Since you're used to a pretty high stack I'd recommend going with a 2" riser wide bar. Go as wide as you can find and then cut them down if they are too uncomfortable. Drop all the way down to a 50mm stem at the same time. Wide bars on a 90mm stem will feel pretty weird to you if you're use to really narrow bars.

 

[pinkrobe]

I'm riding 700mm bars on a 100mm stem. I went with a zero-stack headset and a zero-rise bar to keep the front end down. I was originally happy with the positioning on my Motolite [120 stem, 1.5 rise, 2" stack under the stem], so I replicated the position on my EG. It felt fine, but just didn't work. Dropping the front end, and going shorter and wider with the bars put more weight on the front wheel, and enhanced the traction of the front wheel. I'll fiddle with it more next season, but right now I'm pretty stoked on the setup.

 

[pbbreath]

I picked up a "cheap" 50mm/10* Rise Stem on the way home today, Easton Something for $40.

Gonna try that and change my stack height and see how it feels while I look for some longer bars that don't cost $150!

I've got the next 4 days off so I'm gonna hit some XC, Gnarly DH and a few tech sections and see how some changes feel. I'm gonna borrow a buddies 685mm bars to see if that makes a big difference of if I want to go longer.

 

[anvil_den]

I prefer lower stack shorter stem and longer bar on bikes like the EG. Its more geared towards pointing the bike down but not at the expense of it having to struggle too much on the climbs. Exactly how much is much I guess depends on how the frame fits u in the first place. If Im 2 inch taller, probably will have to run a longer stem...

for now:
710mm Funn Lo Riser8 degree backsweep x 5.5 degrees upsweep -- 30mm rise
Titec El Norte stem, 50mm 0 rise,-- 44mm stack
Spacers below stem-- 11 mm
upper headset cup stack-- 6mm

I tried once to go on an even shorter 35mm stem and a longer 30 bar. Nice for the DH stuff but kept whacking into trees on tight trails.

Latest pic of my EG here >>> http://www.togoparts.com/showroom/viewpic.php?srid=1&file=20091229190456654.jpg

 

[pbbreath]

50mm stem took some getting used to, much snappier in the turns, makes the bike feel like it turns in a lot faster.

I like where it put my weight, a little further back but it still climbs great.

I have some 685mm High Rise Easton Monkeylite DH CNT bars on the way. They're cut but otherwise newish supposedly. (ebay $50)


Still haven't removed any of the stem spacers, gonna wait for the bars to see just how high they are.

 

[wasea04]

I've been running a 15mm rise 785mm Truvativ Boobar on my EG and it's been good so far although I'm switching to a 40mm rise 745mm Sunline V One to put my weight a little further back. I'm rocking a Thomson 50mm stem with about an inch and half of spacers.

 

[PrincipalRider]

I use a 65 mm stem, about one inch of spacers, and I have 27 inches of bar with a short rise bar. I use the Sunline AM stem and the V1 bar.