Syntace Flatforce Stem & Vector Low 10 Bar

Ten years ago the only people who ran slammed and flipped stems were those riders who were (or at least thought they were) serious contenders on the XC circuit. Then along came 29ers; the bigger wheels required longer-legged forks which naturally pushed the front end of the bike higher. With this change, more riders found it hard to get their handlebars low enough for an efficient cockpit setup.

A few years later, as the pedalling efficiency of suspension designs improved, we saw the emergence of the 140-160mm travel do-everything trail bike; the extra suspension travel on these bikes also lifted the front end in a similar way to big wheels. The response from the riding community was to see masses of riders removing all the headset spacers from their bike and flipping the stem in an attempt to get things back to a more neutral riding position.

In the past few years we’ve seen many frame designs attempt to address this issue with shorter and shorter head tubes, but the stem and bar have remained more or less unchanged; until now, that is. German brand Syntace recently released a radically different stem called the Flatforce, along with a handlebar called the Vector Lo 10 which literally turns the conventional riser bar upside down to sit below the stem clamping area.

Sabretooth Stem

The forged Flatforce stem is based on the Syntace Megaforce2—a design that we feel is amongst the best on the market in terms of weight and stiffness. It’s available in 11mm increments from 44-99mm and retails for around $150. The rectangular cross section makes it stupidly stiff and despite our 66mm test unit’s modest actual weight of 127g it’s rated for DH use with bars up to 800mm wide.

First off, the Flatforce stem is angled downward at around 17-degrees and the handlebar clamp is offset, placing the bars in a lower position. Syntace calls this design ‘Sabretooth’, and they think it’s special enough to patent it. The part that clamps to your fork also has a very low profile—it only takes up 28mm of the steerer tube. These features all combine to give a significant drop in bar height.

We took some measurements to find out how it compared to a traditional 70mm stem with a clamp height of 44mm, which had been flipped to give a six-degree drop. With the Flatforce, the centre of the handlebar sat exactly 30mm lower than using the conventional setup—that’s a serious difference and low enough to have you digging turnips out of the ground if you want. According to Syntace, a regular 17-degree stem that’s been flipped upside down will still have the bar sitting around 15mm higher than the Flatforce, so the special offset Sabretooth design clearly helps with the overall height reduction. Having used the similar Megaforce2 for almost a year, we’ve got nothing but praise for the design and the Flatforce should be every bit as good. It’s safe to say that if the Flatforce can’t get your bar height low enough then nothing will.

Vector Low

The 740mm-wide Vector Low 10 handlebar is only available in carbon fibre, but again it’s rated for downhill use and we’ve been thrashing the riser version without issue for nearly two years. It sells for around $214 and comes in two different sweeps, either 8-degree or 12-degree. Syntace don’t believe in quoting separate up and back sweep measurements, as these always depend on how far you roll the bar forward or back. Instead, they simply measure the combined sweep when the bar is placed on a flat surface—it’s simple and logical.

It takes a brief adjustment period but we really like the 12-degree sweep; especially when using wider handlebars. It places your hands and wrists in a much more ergonomically correct position, but if you’re not convinced there’s always the straighter option. Weighing just 216g (actual), this is probably the lightest DH-rated bar on the market and it achieves that weight without feeling flexy or compromising strength. If 740mm is too wide, the bar can be trimmed back to 700mm and Syntace also lists a 680mm version that can be shortened to 640mm.

It’s much harder to accurately measure the amount of drop provided by the bar, as it varies depending on how you position the sweep. We did our best to compare it with a traditional flat bar and the hand position with the Vector Low 10 was around 12mm lower. Whilst obviously not as significant as the drop provided by the stem, it may well be enough to get many riders into the sweet spot. Syntace also offers a ‘Low 5’ version with a more subtle drop.

If you really need to drop some front end height, the combination of Syntace’s Flatforce stem and Vector Low 10 handlebar is going to give you a potential combined drop of 40mm or more compared to a traditional flat bar and flipped stem combo; easily enough to solve any fit issues that aren’t related to being on the wrong size bike to begin with.

While both the Flatforce and Vector Low 10 were initially built with long travel all-mountain 29ers in mind, they are light enough for XC use and could solve a host of problems for shorter cross-country racers who want to get ‘low and pro’. The only limiting factor for the XC crowd could be the size range, as some riders may desire a stem that’s longer than 99mm. Given the ongoing shift towards bigger wheels and longer travel, it’s great to see such well-engineered solutions to the fit-related problems that some riders face.

EightyOneSpices (08) 8388 3581 / www.eightyonespices.com.au