The Ritchey Trail series of aluminium bars and stems are designed for the everyday trail blazers just like you and us. This stem/bar combo (Stem – 70mm, 0˚ rise, Bar 740mm width, 20mm rise) not only looks very stylish and sexy, in matte black, but also features some nifty engineering that will help “add stiffness” to your front end. (Please consult your doctor before using).

This added stiffness stems largely (no pun intended) from the 220 degree offset bar clamp which provides a more encapsulating interface for the bar. This helps in reducing flex and thereby giving the rider more positive input to steering when the going gets rough.

We found the trail bar/stem combo not only very comfortable but it also improved the steering rigidity of our test bike compared with the stock parts. We found this especially so on the type of rough terrain that grabs your wheel and tries to point you in meaningless directions.

Some may say that a 740mm bar is too wide for trail riding but we don’t think so. We also found it matched well with the 70mm stem, providing a good compromise for both climbing and descending – allowing us to get behind the saddle when required but without feeling cramped on the uphills.

If you’re looking for a bar stem upgrade for your all-mountain machine it’s hard to look past the form and function of Ritchey’s trail series range.