Ritchey's WCS Trail Rizer bumps the standard WCS Rizer geometry up to trail-worthy dimensions without abandoning the shallow, cross-country-friendly shape that made the original popular. The 800mm width gives you room to run brake levers, dropper remotes, shifters, and lock-on grips with space to spare, and the 31.8mm clamp diameter keeps it compatible with the stem you already have on the bike.

The bend numbers are dialed for riders who spend most of their time seated and pedaling rather than pinned against the backstop on a downhill run. A 20mm rise lifts the grips just enough to open the cockpit without pushing your weight off the front wheel, 9° of backsweep aligns your wrists into a natural pedaling position, and a slight 2° of upsweep keeps your palms from rolling forward on longer efforts. It's a trail bar that still climbs like an XC bar.

Construction is triple-butted 7050 aluminum, which is the same alloy Ritchey uses across the WCS mountain range. The butting profile puts material where the bar takes the highest loads — the stem clamp zone and the transitions out to the grip area — while thinning the wall through the middle sections to keep weight in check. If you've cracked cheaper 6061 bars at the clamp, the step up to a 7050 triple-butted bar is where that problem tends to go away.... Read More