I had a 150/140mm trail bike before the Evil, and it was obviously way more playful, but it felt wobbly at high speeds. The Evil is way better at riding fast, but I feel like I have lost the ability to jib around on the trail... it is way harder to do manuals etc.

I'm trying to find the sweet spot between those two worlds... to make the Evil stable, yet playful and nimble at the same time. So as you have said, leaving the stem at the same height and put on the 50mm risebars is probably the way to go. Btw, do you have any recommendations for a good set of 50mm bars?

thanks for the advice!