Comp Highlight: £240 Rulezman Handlebar Clamp

For only £3 you can win a Rulezman Handlebar Clamp worth up to £240 - with global shipping included!

Win a Rulezman HandleBar Clamp V1 downhill or V3 trail/enduro from AstonMTB worth up to £240!

The HC clamps are moto-inspired products made in Europe. This is the second limited batch of stems that Rulezman has produced.

I’ve been riding Dave’s original prototype HC V1 Direct Mount stem he made back in 2010 and also have been using a V3 on the front of my Nicolai Nucleon. Everything makes sense to me and follows my geometry philosophies: MTB stems are an old descendant of road bikes and don’t really make sense nowadays, especially with the recent trend of frame sizes growing and head angles slackening. Check Rulezman’s explainer video below:

This V3 stem is the single crown version of the HCV1 direct mount stem I’m using on my DH bikes. The V3 offers 15mm reach and 38mm rise, using a 31.6mm clamp. The high rise gets your hands higher from the start, which is important for longer modern bikes and can also help taller riders. 15mm length means that the steering axis of your bars will be closer to the centre of the steerer tube which offers more accurate steering.

Both stems are high-end units. They’re 100% manufactured in Europe from 7075 aluminium, come with a full complement of titanium bolts and are exceptionally light at only 105/147 grams. The V3 design also integrates the top cap into the clamp to further refine and simplify the product.

The HC V3 is also incredibly stiff with a 60mm clamping area for the bar, and its compact design makes it incredibly strong. The V1 has a narrower clamping area (the same width as the direct mount threads) - both stems passed all the available safety tests including the EFBE EPAC MTB GR / CAT 5 which is the gold standard which includes a Fatigue Test, Maximum Load Test, Overload Test and a Stiffness Test. Most MTB products aren’t put through this test as it’s very expensive and demanding - multiple bars were bent and snapped during these tests where the stems survived perfectly, see the images and videos below.

Why are these named the V1 and V3, wheres the V2? The V1 is the Direct Mount downhill product, and the V2 never made it to production: it passed the EN and ASTM test, but it failed the EFBE test so Rulezman went back to the drawing board to create this V3 - even though in reality the V2 would have survived any real world riding conditions.

Specs:

HC V3 Tech Specs:

• Material – Alloy 7075-T6, 5-axis machined and hard anodised.

• Bolts – 6x GR5 titanium M5 bolts (ti-prep grease included in the kit)

• 31.8mm bore only

• Weight – 147 grams including bolts

• 15mm length, 38mm rise

• Integrated top cap

• StiffAF

• Certifications – EFBE MTB GR / CAT 5
  – EFBE EPAC MTB GR / CAT 5
  – EN 17406:2020
  – ASTM F2043-13

• Made in Europe

• RRP €260

HC V1 Tech Specs:

• Material - Alloy 7075-T6, CNC, clear anodised.

• Bolts - 4x M6x18 Titanium 6AL-4V GR5 with integrated washer - 4x M5x20 Titanium 6AL-4V GR
  (ti-prep grease included in the kit)

• 31.8mm bore only

• Weight - 105g including 8 bolts

• 18mm length, 38mm rise

• StiffAF

• Certifications - EFBE MTB GR / CAT 5
  - EFBE EPAC MTB GR / CAT 5
  - EN 17406:2020
  - ASTM F2043-13

• Made in Europe

• RRP €225

The lucky winner will receive:

• 1x RULEZMAN HC-V1 Stem in silver OR 1x RULEZMAN HC-V3 Stem in silver or black

• Global shipping included

• This competition is open to anybody anywhere. AstonMTB is not responsible for any tax or duties in the winner’s country

• There is a cash prize alternative of £120 for the winner

Great! But, how do I win?

To win this package all you need to do is head to my competition site, answer a simple question and you have an extremely good chance to win: current odds at the time of publishing this article are 1/194!

As always, all prizes are for BRAND NEW products, in a choice of size/spec/colours to suit the rider and their bike.

Global shipping is also included so entrants are invited from anywhere in the world.

The giveaway is guaranteed to happen on the end date regardless of how many tickets are sold. No extensions, no minimum ticket sales.

These competitions fund my reviews which I believe are the only truly independent MTB reviews online. All of the prizes and all of the products you see are bought by me - no sponsored posts, no freebies and no back-handers.

Thanks, Paul.