Hope AM/Freeride Stem - Review

 same sentiments here. how on earth does that happen?

 It sounds counter intuitive doesn't it? As the shorter stem puts you further back in the neutral riding position you can go more aggressive when descending and lean further forward without over balancing. Sounds odd but works very well with a modern slack head angle and long top tube.

I just fitted this stem to my Nicolai to replace the 50mm one. The quality is very high and I particularly like the way you can see no gaps between the faceplate and the main stem when looking at it from above. The mix of short stem and 65 degree head angle makes for a fantastic descender.

 As the stem gets shorter your shoulders can move further forward, altering your center of gravity and centralise your weight over the bike; simple really.

 You can fit your frame to

 Short stems are not just about position, but sharpening up the steering.

If you imagine your stem is two feet long, when you steer your arms would be sweeping broad arcs in front of you like a metal detector sweeping the ground. A shorter stem means you are pivoting closer to the steerer tube which means sharper/twitchier handling. This can take a little getting used to.

 Combine this with a wide bar and the increase in leverage will balance the front wheel response created by the shorter stem

 These short stem physics lessons are ludicrous. You guys should write a book.

"As the shorter stem puts you further back in the neutral riding position you can go more aggressive when descending and lean further forward without over balancing."

So the short stem does the *opposite* of moving you forward.... On the other hand, wider BARS definitely move your forward.

"as the stem gets shorter, the force from your hands is directed more straight downward and at less of a forward-down angle, which effectively shifts more weight onto the front wheel"

As the stem gets shorter, your COG moves further back, moving force OFF the front wheel. The front wheel doesn't know or care what angle your body's force is exerting on the bar. That force is perpendicular to the front wheel's normal force and can't do anything but put tension on the top tube.

Just to be clear, I definitely believe short stems kick ass for descending, but they definitely do not give you a more forward position than a longer stem would. Short stems are about steering leverage and the ability to run wide bars. If you want to run wide bars (which we all do), a long stem will have you insanely stretched out over the bike since the arms are less parallel to the top tube than with narrow bars. The shorter stem also alters the mechanical advantage of the steering input to quicken the steering. It changes the arc made by the hands when moving the bars. This is important because while wide bars allow you to deal with lateral feedback from the trail, they also make the steering slower than narrow bars (which are 'twitchy' in comparison) so short stems mitigate that negative side-effect on the steering.

RC covered this really well in a Tech Tuesday. Explicitly states that short stems put your weight rearward.
www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Stem-Choice-Cockpit-Setup-2011.html

 Nailed it bkm

 Pushing in a straight line to the axle (or even to the contact patch) doesn't give maximum traction or knob engagement. The only force determining your available traction is the force normal to the contact patch (perpendicular to the ground). Maximum grip would come from putting your body weight directly over the line formed between the front and rear contact patch, perpendicular to the ground. For example, if you're leaning the bike to the right to engage the knobs, max traction would come from putting your COG to the left of the bike. To keep a straight line with the axle would keep you centered on the handlebars, which would put your COG far off to the right and reduce the normal force to the tires. That's what people mean when they say "lean the bike, not the body". The best way to "dig the knobs in" is to stay directly over them (as much as possible, anyway). Check out Fabien. www.pinkbike.com/video/254139. Or James: www.pinkbike.com/video/181079

I do agree about the 'wrestling' thing though. Shorter stems allow a greater range of motion over the bike, so it would be easier to wrestle that way than if you were stretched out really far.

 As my stems get shorter and shorter my wallet gets lighter allowing me lift my butt off the seat for a more forward attack position.

 My explanation is not ludicrous, poorly communicated perhaps, but not ludicrous.

There are some things bkm said that are inaccurate. For example, stem length doesn't MOVE your COG. YOU move your COG. The stem length determines, among other things, the comfort and distance the rider can shift their. To clearly prove this point, imagine all weight is supported through the bb ("heavy feet, light hands"). In this position, your COG is, by definition, directly over the bb. In this position, the COG is over the bb regardless of whether you have a 35mm stem or a 100mm stem. The only difference being that if you extend your hands more forward to due to the 100mm stem, them you'll have to move your butt rearwards slightly to keep your COG over the bb.

Therefore, the stem is not the THING that moves your COG. Instead, the stem determines the range in which the rider can move their COG. A short stem moves the COG available range rearward.

If "aggressive" is being defined as more weight on the front wheel, then my original comment still stands.

 "the stem determines the range in which the rider can move their COG"

So the stem moves the range of COG, but doesn't move the COG? Makes no sense dude. Yes, the rider can modulate COG by moving their body, but as you said yourself the range of available COG positions changes with the stem length.... therefore the stem is changing the COG of rider+bike.

No matter how you look at it, or how the body moves over the bike, bringing the bars back towards you (shortening the stem) changes the angle of the arms and torso, which shifts the center of mass back and upwards. You can move your center of mass over the bike by moving your body around, but a short stem will definitely bias COG to the rear compared to a longer stem.

Your example with the 35mm and 100mm stems assumes that you exert zero force on the handlebar or saddle, which never happens. As soon as you weight either of those you are applying a moment to the frame that affects the front/back weight distribution of the bike. That moment will also be affected by the angle of the torso and any vertical force components applied to the bars. When you change the angle of the torso you must either (a) weight the bars differently or (b) cantilever off the saddle/seatpost using static forces in the pedals (kinda like when you ride with no hands), both of which change the moment applied to the frame and the weight distribution between wheels. In either case, the more upright position from a shorter stem is moving weight OFF the front wheel.

 @DirtyMartini "When the trail gets steep, a shorter stem would, by this definition, be less aggressive." - So why then, don't all DH riders on the world cup circuit have narrowboat tillers for stems if this is your logic? Also an "aggressive" position, is bending your knees, moving your hips back (bringing your COG rewards), arms bent and keeping your chest low (bringing your COG lower), the aggressive position allows you to navigate steep and technical terrain without a) having your weight being pulled too far forwards by the gradient of the trail b) bring bucked about. With your logic we should basically be installing arm chairs on our bars to bring our weight forwards and into a more aggressive position :')

 Hope, all the way!!!

 Hope looks nice but i will keep my chromag.

 I'd be the same if I was in US buddy, but I'm uk so it's hope and orange ftw

 I love mw some Hope... I have hubs and 40t-rex

 someone should clamp down on the puns

 man the puns are just stemming from pinkbike, and i hope it continues!

 Let's steer clear of jokes like this please

 I'm already a-head of you on that one

 Man, you're all losing direction, I'm off to the Bar!

 Get a grip man!

 'At 35mm the Hope stem was longer than we prefer'

 Most pinkbike readers can't handle the bars after an article like this, head this set home.

 Oh man I've lost all bearing on this conversation

 Have you tried using smaller wheels? There are some fast accelerating agile alternatives available now.

:-) sorry couldn't resist. Only kidding. Run what u brung

 lol, the thought had crossed my mind!!

 www.hopetech.com/product/freeride-stem

 Answer has had a 35mm stem out for better then two years now. There's your option if you can't get the Hope.

 The hope page lists it with a 31.8 clamp size, but doesn't make any mention of it being available with a 35mm clamp.

 What a joke that someone neg propped my giving dfiler an option to help him should he want a 35mm stem. Must be 12!

 Or maybe you got the neg due to your comment being irrelevant. The Answer stem is available in 35mm reach but dfiler mentioned 35mm clamp; the Answer is only 31.8mm clamp. If you need something now in 35x35, a good alternative is RaceFace Atlas.

 There are quite a few 35mm clamp options right now. I'm curious what the 70mm version the hope stem weighs. Currently, most of the 35mm clamp stems are intended for DH/FR and are built like tanks. Soon though, we should be seeing more XC/AM versions.

 they reviewed a 35 mm stem tho, but yeah short stems are where it's at

 good luck on that, they only give green parts to sponsored athletes.

 @groghunter: They do limited special edition runs at times that feature a certain color. The last was an awesome green and black combination that nearly all of their brake offerrings at the time had an option for.

images.evanscycles.com/product_image/image/dfc/2cd/3ee/70790/product_page/hope-tech-evo-m4-special-edition-brake.jpg

If they do that for the stem, I'll buy it as it will match my brakes, Oneup 42 tooth, and grips. In other words, for the vanity of it all. LOL

 I'm aware of those parts, but they only accented them in green, and they made a big deal when they released them about finally giving regular people something in the color, it was either the first, or one of only a few times they've done that. OP talks about a fully green part, which is something they generally reserve for their sponsored athletes (though they'll pop up on buysell from time to time, when those guys get new stuff.)

 Why do they not offer that stuff to the public is it the cost to do it or what?

 @groghunter: It wasn't the first time they've done, but you're right; they are only accented or some such.

A completely green stem would be nice. I think Spank has them in that color, but it's most likely a longer length.

 And I must correct myself! Spank has them Spike race stem in that awesome green AND 35mm.

spank-ind.com/media/k2/galleries/15/SPIKE-RACE-STEM-35-EMERALD-GREEN.jpg

 Thanks dude I actually forgot all about spank now I want their green rims too lol anyone have any feedback on the quality of them

 I don't know the quality of those units, but a good quality reasonably priced alternative in that color is the Azonic Outlaw. I've been running those on my AM bike now for two years and couldn't be happier. I might have to get that stem from Spank tho. I like my Answer, but my green and black color scheme is screaming for me to get that stem. LOL

 outlaws are burly rims... but they're positively portly compared with anything modern.

 True that. If you're a weight weenie, look elsewhere. That said, they're tough as nails.

 same price as renthal duo, 10 more than thomson in UK. 20 less than a chromag in UK

 pocket? That's where I put mine for am, xc is on the bars.