Right - cockpit set up and goodbye riser bars.
The Explosif frameset came with the original Kona 165 gram aluminium handlebar. My first thought was 'that's a really narrow bar and might not be great for my back...' and I started looking at bars with a low rise as alternatives for the build.
My thinking here came from my Cinder Cone rebuild last year. I fitted riser bars to get a bit more upright riding position. I rode the bike like this and it was fine, but I never liked the look of the riser bars.
I decided to give the Explosif 165 bar a try, using the Cinder Cone as a test bed:
The flat bar looks a million times better and I prefer the ride - much better handling on twisty trails. So, the 165 bar gets the nod for the Explosif build and I will also be replacing the riser bar on the Cinder Cone with a flat bar.
The comparison of the bar widths is interesting. Here's me thinking the 165 bar would be too narrow, and yet i used to ride a cut down version of this bar on my Cinder Cone BITD - and not only was it cut down, I also had Onza bar ends on there, making it even narrower - here's a pic from around 1993:
Here's the comparison; the third from the top is the Explosif 165 bar, the bottom one is the original 165 bar from my Cinder Cone which I cut down:
Stem choice for the Explosif stem was straightforward as it came with a mint Velocity stem. Here is a comparison with the original Velocity stem from my Cinder Cone, which I cut down back in 91/92, because weightsaving..
Old vs new(er):
Having the Cinder Cone as a test bed for the Explosif build is really useful.