Going wide – my review of the new Race Face Turbine Riser handlebars and Truvative stem set up on my Orange 5. Would it make a difference to my riding?
After chatting to my riding mates I realised that my mountain bike handlebars were beginning to look a little old skool. At just 650mm long and a rather thin 25.4mm and probably over 10 years old I decided that it was time for a upgrade! Time to think about going wide!
I decided to stick to my favourite component brand and went for a 725mm Race Face Turbine Riser (£44.99) in a rather fetching gold colour (my husband said he would never ride with me again!). And I went for a 60mm Truvativ AKA Stem (£29.99) – in white of course – to compensate for the longer bar width. I ordered both from Chain Reaction Cycles and first impressions were good, both components seemed like very good quality and they were very easy to fit onto my Orange 5.
So has it made a difference? Yes! I was quite surprised about how much of a different feeling it gave me on the bike. The wider, thicker handlebars made for a smoother ride and absorbed more of the bumps giving me more confidence to go faster. The shorter stem and wider bar combination made the steering surprisingly sharp. It is going to take a while to get use to the wider handlebars, already had one small incidence when I mis-judged a gap between trees and went straight over the handle-bars! But other then that I’m very happy with the upgrades and I’m hoping it will help push my riding on a bit to the next level.
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