New BikeYoke Barmate handlebars tout usable stack and rise dimensions

If you’ve ever shopped for mountain bike handlebars and assumed “rise” referred to the centerline height between the stem mount and the bar end, you’re in good company. But as BikeYoke learned while developing their new Barmate handlebar, that’s not it. As you can see in the illustration above, according to Bike Yoke, most brands measure rise as the height between the stem mount and a point where the bar completes its bend, which varies from bar to bar. But as riders, what we really want to know is how high our hands are relative to the bike.

Handlebar rise and stack height

Looking at rise, two handlebars with similar measurements can in fact place hands in very different positions, even if the bars have the same length, width, and upsweep. In some cases, as BikeYoke points out, a 35mm riser bar could actually be lower than a 25mm riser bar.

To clear things up, BikeYoke is publishing the “stack” for their new bars, a measure that’s essentially what most of us thought rise was all along.

Keep in mind, however, that the published stack height for a given bar is based on the factory length of the bar — for example, 800mm. If you trim an 800mm bar to 780mm, that will obviously reduce the stack height for that bar.

Handlebar setback and reach

Another handlebar dimension that can be difficult to discern is setback. The backsweep, usually measured in degrees, tells part of the story, but again, the rider’s actual hand position will vary based on the shape of the bar, even for a given width.

Here, BikeYoke proposes standardizing on a measurement they’re calling “reach,” since the offset from the stem effectively subtracts from the reach of the mountain bike.

Handlebar rotation adds yet another dimension

Even with these standardized and simplified measurements, there’s yet another hiccup. Bar roll — effectively how the bar is rotated within the stem — will change both the stack and reach, in some cases substantially. To help buyers better understand the effect, BikeYoke has committed to providing drawings like the one above showing how bar roll — neutral, forward, or backward — affects the stack and reach.

I asked Stefan Sack, Overlord of Operations for BikeYoke, if it would be possible to use marks on the stem and bar to indicate the neutral, zero-degree position to help riders dial in the stack and reach.

“Making markers on stems would not help to find the ‘neutral’ position, because stems are mounted at head angles from about 62° all the way up to about 68°,” he said. “So if you have a stem on a 62° head angle, the marker will be pointing in a different angle from horizontal/vertical than when installed on a 68° head angle.”

Sack went on to explain that BikeYoke decided not to print rotation markers on the bars because this would be too complicated to explain, which, given the conversation to this point, is a bit of an understatement. Put simply, “People should rotate the bars to whatever feels right to them anyway,” he said.

Stem measurements

The folks at BikeYoke went through a similar exercise with standard stem measurement dimensions (typically angle and length) and settled on rise and length measurements. In addition, they calculate stack and reach measures to help riders understand how the stem measurements interact with overall bike dimensions. Interestingly, we’ll see a new MTB stem release in just a few hours from another brand that measures stem rise rather than angle.

The new BikeYoke Barmate handlebars

With all of that business out of the way, let’s head to the bar. 🍻

The BikeYoke Barmate is offered in 7050 aluminum alloy or carbon with a 35mm clamp diameter and 800mm width.

The $270 carbon Barmate embeds a titanium mesh in the stem clamp and control areas for added strength. Two stack heights, 50mm and 65mm, are available, weighing about 260g and 265g each, respectively. BikeYoke says their 50mm stack height is roughly equivalent to competing bars that claim a 15-25mm rise. The 65mm version is more like a 30-40mm rise handlebar.

The aluminum alloy BikeYoke Barmate handlebar boasts similar dimensions to the carbon version with a wider clamping area to ensure a proper fit with the widest direct mount stems. Claimed weights for the 50mm and 65mm stack bars are roughly 325g each. An all-black version of the alloy bar is priced at $89, while the two-tone silver and black handlebar shown costs $99.

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