Renthal enters the MTB market

Renthal, a company known for their line of motocross bars and accessories, has branched out into the cycling market. With the recently announced support of the Specialized/ Monster Energy Team, it appears they are diving into the MTB world headfirst. One of the local homies was spotted sporting the bars and stem on his Intense Uzzi, and while we’ve seen guys running motocross stuff on their big hit bikes back in the day, (remember when we couldn’t get wide MTB bars?) it was clear this wasn’t heavy, overbuilt moto stuff repurposed for MTB use. The stem in particular stood out as looking really unique, so we had to contact Renthal for additional info on their innovative stem design.

The new Renthal Duo 50mm stem

Here’s the scoop on their new Duo stem:

Renthal’s revolutionary Duo stem combines high strength with ultra low weight. The stem is horizontally divided, allowing it to be machined in two pieces. This method gives unrestricted access to the stem core, enabling weight to be reduced to the absolute minimum, without compromising strength. By dividing the stem in two, our engineers have retained a box section profile, which gives the best balance of lateral strength and torsional rigidity, whilst still being able to obtain the minimum possible weight.

Features

Fully CNC machined from 6082 T6 billet aluminum

Split design for the minimum weight box section profile

U-Shape handle bar cradle offers full support to the underside of the

bar, the most common place for stress crack propagation.

Laser etched handlebar alignment markings

Just 143g, including all hardware

The aspect of the stem’s design that really stands out to me is the u-shape handlebar cradle. I’ve had light stems crack before, and stripped threads (I swear it wasn’t over torqued) running heavier FR/DJ stems, but this design looks to be quite solid considering how little material is actually there. Did we mention the thing looks badass?

The money shot: innards of Duo stem, laid out into its various components. Only 143g!

I’ve been running the Thomson X4 50mm stem on my all mountain bike, with a heavier freeride/ DJ stem on my Black Market Riot. This stem comes in lighter than the Thomson, and still looks super solid due to the design. They’re slated to be distributed in the US via QBP and SBS, so they should be readily available at your local bike shop, soon as QBP gets them in.

The Renthal Fatbar and Duo stem

The Fatbar looks pretty solid too, and comes in at 712 and 750mm widths.

Renthal products are also available direct online from www.renthalcycling.com. MSRP on the Duo Stem is $99.99

<update> Just got the specs for the 2011 FatBar, which for 2011 are now a proper 780mm wide and available in three heights. (that’s 30.70 inches to us Americans) Listed weights come in at 345g, but that was for the previous model, so expect them to be a bit more.