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Got a carbon Renthal Fatbar 31.8 which had a 50mm Apex stem. Replacing the stem with a DMR Defy35 which has similar clamp design where you slide it onto the bars.
Got the Apex off with care, but the DMR isn't going on without seriously scratching the bars.
Saw a video from Pinned TV fitting this stem, though on DMR bars and just seems to be reasonably loose. Though didn't see how he slid it on from the side.
Is there a special technique or do they only work with DMR bars?Â
Okay, just tried with some other older bars and they slide on easier. The Renthal bar is an extremely tight fit. Even the Apex stem scratches it.
Unfortunately my old bars are too short
New bars or different stem then 😞
Both the Apex and the DMR you take the clamp right off. No need to slide anything through. When replacing do up the bottom bolts tight and torque the top ones (i.e. the gap should be at the top).
There's no way to fit the front clamp pieces on the bar without sliding them on. Also DMR is other way round, gap at the bottom. Apex gap is at the top.
https://youtube.com/shorts/yU1J_AODMkU?feature=share
Attempting to slide them on involves scratching. Seems the fatbar is a fatter taper and that's where it gets stuck. Yet the Renthal stem is designed for those bars and that scratches also.
I'd use the old bars but they're 750 instead of 780 and not sure I want to go back to 750 especially with a shorter stem. Plus they're damaged anyway
They're both already battered and scratched up anyway and could get some new ones, but I'm reusing them for a bike build and hoped to sort it this weekend. Maybe I'll live with scratched to hell for a weekend test ride and order some better bars or less annoying stem.
I think it's the bars that are the problem. I've fitted 2 different bars to my 31.8 x 35 DMR Defy stem and not had any issues.
Aha! Worked it out. Don't twist/rotate to try to get them on, press hard down on the front and just push on while keeping pressed close to the bar. Think that gets the sharp edges just fractionally off the bar.
Sadly I've scratched them a bit more than they were already.
I'd use the old bars but they're 750 instead of 780 and not sure I want to go back to 750 especially with a shorter stem. Plus they're damaged anyway
Is that the ones in the picture with the hole in? I'm not overly precious about small amounts of damage to MTB components, but no way would I use those! Only fit for the bin.Â
Yeah, they're the old bars. Stopped using them because of that. It's surface crush damage from a clamp.
Agree, definitely bin.
Or I could cut them down and sell as 400mm bars 😄
Buy metal bars
Tried grease and carbon paste but it still dug into the bar.
It's not just the DMR, the Apex stem with the fatbars are the same and they're designed to work together. Or rather the design of the fatbar is the issue.
Still, done now. I'll never Renthal bars again and/or that style of stem clamp.
I fitted my DMR Defy35 by taking the whole clamp off - I genuinely don't understand why this was not an option.
What do you mean by taking the whole clamp off? I'm not trying to fit the bar in the stem assembled. I took the front clamp pieces off. To get the bar on they wont just clip straight on, they are more than half a circle so won't fit on the centre of the bar without sliding them on the bar from each and where it's narrower. See the video above. Once on then screw the clamps onto the stem which is fine.
The problem is the Renthal Fatbar has a wider taper from centre to ends and the clamp pieces get stuck or very tight.
It's much easier with other bars so can see why people don't see an issue
Oh wait, apologies, mine is a 35 bat so I expect the clamp differs.