Edit: meant to say ‘Stem’, still learning all the bike part names.
So I’ve been mountain biking for 20+ years, mostly for a side activity when I was younger on an old trek 4900 hardtail. I never did much of my own maintenance on the bike, just took it for tune ups every once in a while.
Now I’m working full time at a ski resort that turns into a lift access bike park in the summer, rode that trusty old trek hardtail all last summer whomping down up to double blacks, but popped a lot of tires and didn’t feel totally confident. This season I bought my first full suspension Marin Rift Zone 1 with 29ers. I installed my own dropper post and am looking to make some small upgrades. I’ve been poking around at stems and am getting confused on sizing. I’m fairly confident I need a 35mm for the stem, but can’t seem to find the handlebar width.
Here are the bike specs: https://www.marinbikes.com/bikes/2022-rift-zone-27.5-1#specifications
Is 31.8mm pretty standard? Because the stems I’m looking at (race face & fifty fifty) both have those as standard sizes.
Thanks for any help.
by generic_username_333
2 Comments
The page linked says the stem is for 35mm bars (not 31.8). Both are standard sizes. The 35mm refers to the bar diameter not width. Width is the end to end measurement, basically the end of where one grip goes on to the other end. The stock bars on that bike are 780mm wide with 35mm diameter.
The headset is the bearings that the bike uses to steer. The stem connects holds your handlebar to your steerer. I could be reading it wrong but you might be confusing the two.
Assuming you mean stem then yes 31.8 is a common handlebar diameter. 35 is another, less common standard. Your bike looks to come with a 35mm bar so you will also need a 35mm stem unless you change your bar as well.