What's the lightest easily available retro bar/stem combo..?

And seat posts too?

Looking on weight weenies doesn't give me the whole picture as not everything is listed there! For instance, I remember liking and owning stuff by Art and Amoeba back in the day, it was cheap but really light....

What I'm looking for are short stems and riser bars, though I am starting to wonder about straight bars if I can find some wide enough. Mid to late '90s is the era I'm thinking...anyone got a set up they've weighed, or a compromise they've made where strength and weight have been taken into consideration...?

And what is considered 'light' and what is considered 'average' when it comes to bars/stems/posts?

Ta! Kaz

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The Kalloy Uno range was cheap and pretty light and plenty of stems come up nos, bars and posts seem harder to find though.

Fred Salmon made a lovely stem/bar combo that was really light.

Zoom stem, bars and post were a nice upgrade back in the day.

I think the lightest I own is a titanium bar/stem combo made by kolo. Got matching bar ends too and when all together still seem lighter than some stems I own.

for flat bars, I reckon below 150g is properly lightweight stuff that you should probably be checking every so often, and replacing fairly frequently.

I used the ART and amoeba stuff back in my youth, but the old Bontrager adage strong/light/cheap, choose two, is well applied here. I never broke anything, but some of it got creaky quickly.

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Titanium riser bars and stem dont really weigh much less than the aluminium equivalent in my experience. If you want lightness then retro really is a waste of time/money. A ritchey carbon bar and stem combo can weigh as little as 250 grams

from memory 150 grams was light BITD for bars 200 grams area for ahead stem. Klein MC1 or MC2 combos would be a tasty choice. Answer hyper light bars with a ti stem or a Kore alloy stem.
Didn't DEAN or Merlin make ti stem, bars?

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Syncros? The Syncros bars and stem I had back in the 90s was much lighter than the Marin originals they replaced.

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Looked at Syncros, as that is one manufacturer that does figure on Weight Weenies, but they don't seem to be that light overall....?

Thanks for the input guys!

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Syncros stems (assuming were talking ahead here, quills even heavier) are around the 230 gram mark + or - a few depending on the reach, nowadays its possible get a bar AND stem with that weight... Sooo, what i said a few comments up

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chrisv40":2e2b6ady said:

The Kalloy Uno range was cheap and pretty light and plenty of stems come up nos, bars and posts seem harder to find though.

Fred Salmon made a lovely stem/bar combo that was really light.

Zoom stem, bars and post were a nice upgrade back in the day.

Click to expand...

Exactly this

Only thing I'd add is a note of caution about very light, old aluminium bars and stems - I personally won't use most of them, but you ain't a fat bloke with more enthusiasm than sense, so horses/courses I guess... My weenie ish set up is Syntace F99 90mm @sub-100g (don't know why you'd ever fit anything else), Salsa bars I *think* around 180g for 660mm width. Carbon versions are a bit less, obviously.

Ti, as a rule, will be a fair bit heavier than comparable ally for cockpit parts.

Retro could maybe look for an X-Lite Expert bar at 600mm and reasonable weight? Syncros I generally find ugly - ControlTech and Salsa much more fitting on a slim steel frame.

There's a lot of Syntace on eBay with Cube branding - excellent stuff at a great price and good looking if you scrub the logos off