Gravity Light OS flat bar £89.96 | Gravity Light stem £54.95
An offshoot of FSA, Gravity offers products (and we’re talking handlebars, stems, pedals etc) for burlier more aggressive riding, the sort we can’t even pretend to dabble in. The ‘Light’ range however offers an interesting step between the lightness of FSA and the heft of Gravity’s core products.
Which is what we’re interested in them, and have just taken delivery of these parts for review. You see, we’ve been embarking on a quest to improve our riding technique recently, and part of that process has been in opting for a bar/stem setup that encourages a more aggressive handling stance. Wider bars and shorter stems are the solution. And it seems we’re not alone; there feels like a real movement, even in cross country, towards shorter stems and wider bars. Call it a trend, but we think it’s more than that.
So what have we got here then? First up is the Gravity Light OS flat bar, brand new for 2012. It measures a healthy 740mm, wide but not insanely wide. An interesting construction process sees a thin double butted aluminium hollow core being wrapped, or reinforced, with an outer layer of carbon fibre, combining the benefits of both materials.Other important details, it has a 9° sweep, 4° upsweep.
It weighs 240g which is pretty light. That compares well with Easton’s Havoc, a full carbon fibre bar, of 235g. It’s substantially lighter than the Nukeproof aluminium Warhead bar at 298g.
It’ll be interesting to see how it rides. Will it feel like an aluminium bar or more akin to carbon, or somewhere in-between? We can imagine the aluminium core will help to allay carbon sceptics.
To go with the bar is this Gravity Light stem, costing £54.95. It’s been redesigned for 2012 with “smoother lines” and we think it looks really good. 3D forged from a lump of 2014 aluminium before being CNC machined, it’s finished with a two-tone anodising, before the fresh new graphics are slapped on.
Two opposing steerer clamp bolts hold the 40mm stack height stem in place, while the 2014 aluminium faceplate is secured in place with four bolts. Lengths available include 45, 60, 75 and 90mm – we’ve opted for a 60mm to fit in with our upcoming grouptest of 50-70mm stems. Quoted weight for the 45mm stem is 145g.
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