Why Do High-end Integrated MTB Bar/Stem Combos Exist?

I've been running an integrated bar/stem combo for about 2years now on my hardtail. It's a non-brand import, that I went to guinea pig for the hell of it.

(Somebody's gotta )

I made the call that actually my bar/stem roll rise and sweep hasn't changed for 10yrs, so why not. I like the hammerhead look, and weight that is ridiculous.

As a long-term user I'm not 100% sold on them.

I hate to say it, but they are too stiff!

Switching between my other bikes you can feel way more vibration feedback through them into you hands.

I'm 90kg, and don't ride gently so they are definitely strong enough. But I think the stem interface with that profile actually takes it too far. Personal opinion and very limited other brand examples, so this isn't exactly a market wide view.

But thought I'd share.

The biggest market for these integrated stem/bars is for those casual, middle aged mountainbikers with money (no offense, this is just real talk) who walk into a shop and see the Scott sitting there with integrated everything. The bike's aesthetic looks so clean. They lift it up and marvel at the light weight. Front and rear suspension lockout!? Many ooohs and aaaahhs. They either aren't experienced or don't ride enough to really recognize if the integrated bar and stem fit them. It looks cool and it's light weight. That's all that matters because the bike sells.

I think it sounded like a good idea to someone at some point but geez how they have failed at producing anything that anyone would want to buy aftermarket, ugh.. 

I think it was Unno that started the trend with their first line of bikes and the Gemini bar/stem combo. Then Scott came out with XC and AM versions and Trek followed. Didn't know Giant made one too. 

On a futuristic design bike like the current Unnos I think it looks good, but personally I wouldn't trade function for fashion on such an important part. On 98% of bikes it looks out of place too. 

How much more is one of these bar/stem combos really from an OEM perspective? The Trek model is $500 Canadian dollars, but what they would spec on their other high end MTBs (Elite/Pro bar/stem) are $400 combined. I wouldn't be surprised if the price difference to Trek less than $50 per bike which wouldn't move the MSRP by a meaningful amount. It could be a way to differentiate their highest model or two from their other 'high-er end' offerings. 

If they were lighter, I'd use them for xc. But they're heavier than a more versatile stem and bar.

I live in West LA, which is heaven for rich people riding $15000 road bikes. Pinarello, S-Works, Colnago, etc. I'm gonna say 75% of the people I see riding road and XC mountain bikes worth more than $10000 have a one-piece handlebar/stem combo, and of that group I'm gonna say 60% of them have a TERRIBLE looking bike fit. Like, painful to even watch them ride by. Stiff shoulders, crunched necks, lots of weight on their hands and wrists. It's bad.

I think bike fit is very close to being the number one performance parameter for cycling, right after "do your wheels spin" and "does your chain spin." After that, it's bike fit, because there are few things slower than unnecessary pain and overuse injuries from trying to do the thing you love. I cannot fathom our bike industry selling people $15000 bikes that don't fit, and then making that goal even harder to accomplish by complicating the fit process with one piece bars and stems, internal headset cable routing, proprietary everything, etc. There is no better friend of bike fitters than easily-swapped 1 1/8" threadless stems with four bolts on the faceplate and lots of available steerer tube to adjust up or down. These one piece stems are antithetical to that. If you want to buy one as an aftermarket item, good on you, but it's crazy to sell it on a complete bike.

I have more requests for two-piece setups than for our one-piece. That said, the majority of one-piece bar/stems I get to athletes are here in the US or Brazil. All EU teams ask for a two-piece set. 

One of the bike brands i work with sublets fit studio space to a well known PT/bike fitter in Boston.

She is very seriously thinking about “shutting down the studio” because the ubiquity of one piece bar-stems with internal cable routing and proprietary seatposts in the modern drop bar market make bike fit a very, very, expensive and time consuming process(it used to just be Very Expensive).  

Pre “over-integration” it was easy to do a $350 bike fit in a little over an hour and a half(including swapping bars or a post)- now it is basically impossible to accomplish a fit in a week, IF the customer or dealer can even source the proprietary or integrated parts that suit the athlete better.

Another brand I work with(in Los Angeles)just dropped a new fancy carbon road bike with an integrated barstem option.  All these completes are built to order, and it’s noticeable that the older and more experienced the customer is, the less likely they are to specify the whizbang bar/stem…