Looking for some bar recommendations...

cookiemonster

Not as in "sky" bar or "buddha" bar though...

Building up a new bike on a cervelo rs frame. It'll be used for sportives and distance so i'm after lightweight and comfortable as opposed to superstiff and aero.

I was thinking of getting some ITM K Sword bars as they're pretty light (220g) have the flat tops which I reckon would suit me, and are supposed to be comfy in terms of reducing buzz but still stiff enough. The problem is that I cant find them anywhere in a 42 c-c / 44 o-o and it seems theyve been discontinued. I've only recently come to terms with carbon bars, but I cant cope with a carbon stem - so Im not looking for an integrated bat/stem (also the prices really are crazy)

Any recommendations then for: comfy, light and well shaped (prob flat top with shallow drop)?

Cheers

Steveorow

You means these

http://www.shinybikes.com/bikes/itm-k-sword-carbon-wing-sover-318.html

Have bought a couple of things from Shint ikes and theve been great

cookiemonster

Cheers - i'll give them a call to see whether they have them in stock or not

£177 for some handlebars; they really worth it??

Jez mon

cookiemonster wrote:

£177 for some handlebars; they really worth it??

Probably not.

BUT it's your money, spend it as you wish.

However, I think ITM may have gone out of business recently

I would say that personally I've never really been tempted to get carbon bars/stem (apart from the Cinelli RAM one piece thing) because they aren't that much lighter, and cost a lot, plus my alloy ones do the job well. However some of them do look really nice!

DavidBelcher

Jez mon wrote:

However, I think ITM may have gone out of business recently

Sadly, yes - back in june by the looks of things;

http://www.bike-eu.com/news/2881/itm-in ... ation.html

Whether this means their UK current stocks will be offered as clearance items at a lowered price, I don't know.

David

Rich-Ti

These are good - Pro Carbon from Aspire

Very comfy hand positions, light and roughly £110 posted from the States 8)

Steveorow

Im with Jez mon on this one . I don't trust Carbon Bars or stems after a carbon seatpost broke on me from a small nick . To many chances for clamps to cause stress ( STIs and Stem ) . The only benefit I can see is looks wise . 8)

I have these on my good bike . At a third of the price with roughly the same weight and profile of the ITM ones . But heh horses for courses .

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/controltech-formidable-handlebars_W0QQitemZ250297098860QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250297098860&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

brownbosh

Hargoves southampton have got an integrated pro vibe mono carbon bar and stem in white in their cabinet reduced to£150 from £300. I use the seatposts and their alu stem/bars on my bikes and they are fantastic. The one piece unit looks very saucey! Think they had 100 and 110 mm 42cm left.

cookiemonster

mmm... the only advantage that carbon bars seem to offer (apart from bling,,,) is that they can be molded into funny shapes - flat tops, finger cut outs, bits for your wrists behind the drops, with no weight penalty. A decent plain ali bar will be around 220g, maybe down to 200 for some specials. But shaped ali, like the ITM millenium, is up at 330-350g; while similarly shaped carbon (k force, k sword, etc) are still down at the 220 -240 mark.

Of course the question is then, how much difference does 100g make? but if you approach the 10 componants in the same way you add/loose 1kg which would be noticeable

I'm still a little uncertain about the fragility of carbon bars - like a couple of folk mentioned its not the "fragility of carbon" thats the problem, but that you've got an idiot with a spanner (me) who's well capable of tightening bolts up too far when I'm in a hurry to get going.

Two more questions then:

1. It seems that everyone thats tried the flat topped / wing bars likes them; is that true? Anyone not get on with a funky shaped bar? (dont mean ergo curves here)

2. Does carbon give any advantage over ali in the comfort / road buzz stakes? Or are we talking the difference that using thick tape like the spesh bar phat would take care of?

For the record, im now looking at:

3T Ergonova 198g £117
ITM K Sword 230g £178 (if available)
FSA K Wing 240g £135
Cinelli Neo Morphe 230g £160

Cheers

Jon

brownbosh

Carbon is a proven material. All my seat posts are intact and are carbon and took me when i was 20 stone - enough of a resiliance test for anyone i would think!

aarw

i think those new 3t ergonaova bars look like they could be the ticket. you could alwats buy the alu version for £35 to try them out and if you don't no big loss. if you do then go buy the carbon version and move the alu's to you're second/training/winter/cross/whatever.....

Rich-Ti

aarw wrote:

i think those new 3t ergonaova bars look like they could be the ticket. you could alwats buy the alu version for £35 to try them out and if you don't no big loss. if you do then go buy the carbon version and move the alu's to you're second/training/winter/cross/whatever.....

I looked at a set of these as I think the drop on mine is actually a bit deep for me - they were top of my list but now I'm not so sure.

The supposed 'egg-shaped' section really doesn't feel that great at all and your fingers rest on the cables on the underside (which are also not held in place by anything if you don't tape the top section). Nice and light, but I'm a bit disappointed...

That said I reckon I may well still end up with them as 3T + Cervelo seem to be the future and it seems odd to put anything else on my bike now! :roll:

aarw

3t + cervelo is the future? why? because a the pro team riding cervelos ride 3t now too???

also look at the zipp bars and easton slx3

dennisn

I sort of a fan of Ritchey bars. Quality stuff and there are all kinds of different materials,
bends, and prices. I like the bump out on the drops of some of their bars. Pretty
comfortable. Never had any problem with the aluminum WCS bar.

Dennis Noward

Rich-Ti

aarw wrote:

3t + cervelo is the future? why? because a the pro team riding cervelos ride 3t now too???

Basically yes - see my signature, I'm a bike tart. I know there are plenty of other options out there but to me it seems wrong not to use 3T on my Cervelo. Sad, but true... :roll: :oops:

cougie

How are they for impact though ? If your bike falls over - the bars will take a hit - do you need new ones if that happens ? And whilst they do look nice - if you tape over them for grip - cos I'd not like shiny carbon in the rain - they look the same.

I'll save my money and stick with alloy.

dennisn

As far as bars go I think that the only difference(other than bling) is one is made out
of carbon and one is alloy. Ya OK, price is also a difference.

Dennis Noward