Renthal Duo Stem – Review

I gotta start this off by saying that it’s a stem. It does its job. It holds my bars to my steerer. There are tons of options out there so, why should anyone look at the Renthal Duo stem over something like the old guard of Thomson?
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First off, I really like having something a little different on my bike and when I find something different that is also lighter and has all the features that I am looking for, well … I just gotta have it. So what did Renthal do different than everyone else? The good folks over at VitalMTB put up this slideshow that goes over Renthal’s design process – this is one of the reasons I picked up this stem, I really liked their way of thinking. I just may grab a set of their bars next.

Inside Renthal — More Mountain Bike PhotosMounting it was easy enough, as long as you read the instructions. The one thing that would have created an issue for me was the need for a torque wrench as all the bolts needed to be tightened to 5N-m, but my roommate had one so it was not an issue. From the reviews I read it is important to grease up the bolts or else you could end up with a squeaky stem, I guess that is the one downside of the two piece stem.
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I have been out on it a few times so far on the wet, muddy, cold Island trails with no issue at all … as I said, stems don’t have a hard job so it’s hard to review them, but if you are looking for a stem that is one of the lightest on the market for its intended use then I would go out and find a Renthal Duo stem, you won’t regret it.
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They do not have a Canadian distributor so after a few local shops telling me they could not get one in I had to order it from Chain Reaction Cycles. Everything included it cost me 105.93 CAD shipped to my door. It took exactly two weeks for it arrive to my place and I did not have to pay any duty or taxes.

Pros:

  • Light
  • Looks great
  • Low Stack Height
  • Strong

Cons:

  • Have to use torque wrench to install
  • Finicky install

Features:

  • Weight: 143 grams (141g on my scale)
  • 10 degree rise
  • 50mm length
  • 31.8 Bar Clamp
  • 28.6mm (1 1/8in)  Steerer Clamp
  • Machined from 6082 T6 Aluminum
  • 2-piece stem design decreases weight
  • U-Shape handlebar cradle eliminates stress risers by increasing clamp surface area.

Scale Shot:
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AdrianLong