High rise bars are this season’s must have components, Dakotah Norton uses them to great effect at the World Cups (when he’s not injured) and Josh Bryceland is a fan too. And while fitting a bulging bar to your bike won’t absolutely guarantee to make you as stylish as either Dak or Ratboy, plenty of riders swear blind they really do help you tackle steep and technical terrain.

Cockpit brand Renthal certainly thinks so, it’s getting in on the action with an updated range of bars featuring a massive 70mm rise, just 5mm less than the Dak Stack. Renthal has reworked its lineup to include new graphics too, and what it reckons is the widest specification of any bar range.

Renthal Fatbar V3

The Renthal Fatbar 35 is already one of the best mountain bike handlebars out there, but it reckons adding more lengths and rise options will help the V3 fend off great newcomers like the Race Face Era Carbon bar. There are now eight rise options across the Renthal range, a choice of carbon or aluminium, and four width options, now stretching up to 820mm wide.

Renthal Fatbar V3

• Fatbar and Fatbar Lite come in alloy or carbon builds
• Widths from 800-820mm, and 760-760 for Lite bars
• Rise options from 0mm to 70mm on the Fatbar
• Aluminium pricing – £84.95, Carbon – £154.95

What’s great about a higher rise bar then? “For steep and technical tracks, they are the ultimate solution, without having to run a ton of spacers under the stem,” Renthal told me. “The additional 20mm of width, at 820mm wide, also helps with taller risers.”

Dakotah Norton rocking his 75mm riser bar at Val di Sole last year // Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Dakotah Norton runs his high not because he’s especially tall (he’s not short though, at 180cm), but to do away with a stack of headset spacers. According to a recent article in Pinkbike, he was hitting his chin on the bar off big compressions, and that the tall bar also compensates for his relatively short arms. He’s also said in the past it allows him to get into a more upright position, and lets him run a softer fork without overload it.

There’s definitely demand for it though, if Race Face and Renthal know anything about it. The Canadian brand told us its 40mm Era bars are now more popular than its standard 20mm rise options. And anecdotally, we’ve seen more riders on the trails rocking the look, especially on e-bikes.

“Dirt jumpers and new school jib kids are also big fans of a tall handlebar,” Renthal told me. “With short travel slopestyle or DJ frames, with the shorter forks, the taller bar gives a much better position.”

The new V3.0 graphics and spec options are now available, pricing goes from £84.95 / €94.95 / $101.40 for alloy bars up to £154.95 / €87.95 / $197.71 for carbon.

Renthal Fatbar V3