It’s no secret that we are big fans of Renthal’s Duo stem. The horizontally split design results in a stem that weighs next to nothing despite being incredibly stiff and strong, plus the ‘U-shaped’ bar clamp area helps eliminate the kind of stress risers that other stems can subject bars to. All in all it’s a brilliant stem, but previously it has only been available in a 50mm length.

Until fairly recently a 50mm stem was pretty much our staple diet, so this wasn’t too much of an issue, but the introduction of bigger wheel sizes in particular has meant that now we’re often looking for something a little shorter still, and on many bikes 40mm has kind of become the new 50mm. So, you can imagine our delight when this brand new 40mm Duo stem landed on our doorstep.

It is everything that we loved about the 50mm version, just 10mm shorter. Oh, and it’s also 19g lighter at just 124g (including all bolts). That’s seriously light, especially when you consider that this stem wipes the floor with so many others when it comes to strength and stiffness, even those that are significantly heavier.

So, if you too are after a 40mm stem in order to fine tune the handling of your bike then this one should at the very least be on your shortlist.

Price: £79.99
www.renthal.com
www.ison-distribution.com