Chromag BZA 35 Stem

(discontinued)

When piecing together my dream endure bike, every component was hand-picked. I was looking for something strong, clean, showed off my SixC bar, and had to have a 35mm clamp diameter. Weight wasn’t my main focus but wanted something reasonable. After some massive comparisons, I landed on the Chromag BZA 35. With a few months of riding on it, here are my impressions:

Out of the Box:

The thing that really sets this stem apart (besides the pricetag) is the fact that it came directly from my friends in the great white north. CNC machined in the loom just down the road from Chromag’s headquarters in Whistler, BC, meant buying this stem helped pay for some canuck’s Kokanee after a hard says work (or plastic shopping bags upon check-out at his local market,) which I’m perfectly happy to do so.

Coming directly from Canada, the craftsmanship and attention to detail matched that of my old Race Face Forged cranks back in the early 2000’s. The CNC groves and unique shapes of the BZA make it, in my opinion, one of the best looking stems ever made.

Throwing my SixC bars onto the BZA, I was taken back with a tear in my eye with how great the combo looked. Opening up the center of the bar gave the cockpit somewhat of a direct-mount DH look which I absolutely loved.

In terms of weight, I was somewhat blown surprised by the numbers. On paper, the BZA is recorded as 165 grams (for the smallest length – 35mm) which is very competitive with most other higher stems of its discipline. After weighing in my 50mm length option, I thought my scale was broken.

With the standard hardware, this stem came in at a whapping 194 grams (a bit more than one would expect). Without any hardware, it came in at 165 grams and with Ti bolts, it came in at 179 grams. A bit on the heavy side but as long as the performance and stiffness was there, I was okay with it.

Performance:

After throwing this stem onto my bike and taking a few laps on my favorite trail, I was quite pleased with how it handled. Chromag nailed it when they described this stem as strong and burly. Where I used to feel flex on high impact situations, the BZA is stout and stubborn, like a wife that will now tolerate the “n+1” bike owning rule. The stem stays in place and doesn’t budge a bit.

One of the major features that drove me to by the BZA was the oversized M6 hardware compared to more common M5 hardware. I ride in situations where I can’t afford to have a stem twist on me, doing so could result in some pretty nasty medical bills. Having the M6 bolts on the steer tube side of the stem helps me rest at ease cus I know the stem isn’t shifter anywhere, which really builds my riding confidence.

Bottom Line:

For the vast majority of riders, any stem on the market will do the job. For the majority of the minority, stiffness and price are the major factors and going with a decent overseas stem will do the trick. I decided to go with the BZA stem because I wanted something strong, clean, and showed off my bars well. The fact it was made in north America helped me ease up a bit on spending so much because I knew it was made by a hard working canuck and really sealed the deal on me buying it. It’s strong and burly which is exactly what I wanted. The weight on it was a little surprising but with all the perks it offers, I was okay with it.

I know there are stems out there that will work just fine for me that are much cheaper but I value quality and supporting north American workers. If you feel the same, I would absolutely recommend this stem. You will not be disappointed by it’s performance.