Sea Otter Report: Renthal
Originally posted on April 24, 2013 at 11:05 amBy Mike Cushionbury
Renthal, located in Manchester, England, has 35 years of motocross parts mastery and has recently brought that knowhow to the world of gravity mountain biking with a range of handlebars, grips, stems and chainrings. It’s collection of elite racers using and R&D’ing the product include some of the biggest names and teams: Aaron Gwin, Troy Brosnan, Mitch Ropelato, Jill Kintner, the Yeti domestic and World Cup downhill teams, the Norco International team and MS Mondraker Racing.
Integra and Dura Stem
Renthal’s direct mount Integra Stem is unique in that it keeps both sides linked together without a faceplate—generally the weakest part of a stem. It’s horizontally divided and machined from two pieces of aluminum. This allows Renthal to dramatically cut weight without sacrificing strength. The 64mm wide, U-shaped handlebar clamp, because of its design, increases handlebar strength and support where it’s needed most. The Integra is available in 45-50mm lengths and weighs 163 grams. The standard steerer clamp Duro Stem uses the same box section design and it comes in 40 or 50mm lengths. Weight is a feathery 143 grams.
SR4 Chainring
Besides a full collection of 7075, CNC machined chainrings in a 104mm-bolt pattern Renthal has introduced a new SR4 with a 120mm-bolt pattern. It’s specifically designed to convert SRAM’s 2×10 drivetrain cranks to a 1×10 system. The ring is offset to the inside (it replaces the stock big ring) to center it relative to the rear cassette for a near perfect chain line. Bolt holes are threaded to accept stock SRAM bolts and sizes include 36, 37 and 38t.
Other goodies from Renthal are four sizes of Fatbars with a new hard-anodized finish that is resistant to scratching. The company also has a new range of lock-on grips with a four compounds: soft, medium, super comfort and Kevlar. Developed with help from World Cup teams, the Kevlar compound uses the soft grip material with tiny beads of Kevlar infused so as the rubber wears away the Kevlar will remain to provide a claimed 3-times longer life span than the standard soft compound. Renthalcycling.com