carbon bars and stem upgrade?

conceptsails

I am thinking of upgrading to carbon bars and stem... what are the pros and cons? anyone had any snap on them seems that it could be nasty.

Andy B

Pro's: light weight (if you get proper Carbon bars, not Carbon wrap stuff), reduction of trail buzz, looks pimp as****

Con's: could snap without warning (regular inspection of parts is worthwhile)

I've got a pair of Easton EA70 Monkeylite carbon bars on my ex demo Orange 5, no problems at all so far.

djvagabon

Ive got a set of Ritchey WCS carbon bars and a carbon post on my bike. Ive never heard of carbon bars snapping before. Surely if you look after them there is no chance of that happening?

off-one

I use a carbon bar and post on a rigid hardtail and the increase in comfort is unbelievable, well worth it. Im a big bloke and was worried about using them, but have held up to a year of abuse in the Peak District so far.

Salsa

I run Ritchey WCS carbon bars/post/forks/stem on my hardtail, as said the main plus is low weight & increased comfort. The downside to thebar/stem combo is flex, I can grab the bars & flex up & down quite a bit.
This really doesn't bother me though aa I use the bike for XC, I wouldn't do big drops or jumps with it but thats not what my bikes used/designed for.
The flex is ok with me though as I have no suspension & the light weight lets me lift over stuff with no effort.

streako

I would also add that it depends on your weight and type of riding. If you are quite heavy or plan on doing much downhill or freeride type stuff, then stick with a aluminium bar.
If you are reasonably light and just do regular xc then Carbon bars are great.

Personally I wouldnt bother with a carbon stem as there are many good light aluminium ones out there.

Carbon bars have been known to snap.

As said above, carbon bars can flex a little bit, but I dont see that as a bad thing as a good bar will be comfortable and take minor bumps out of the trail.

Salsa

I only bought the matching wcs carbon stem because I found it on sale at £65 (at Wiggle), the alu one was around the same price so I went for the bling factor & it certainly looks really nice, even though it's approx the same weight as the alu equivalent.
I couldn't have justified the £130 rrp price tag otherwise & would have bought the full alu version (mines carbon over a alu skeleton) if I hadn't got it half price.

The Spiderman

I have the RF Deus bars and stem.Aluminium but the bars are only 210g,tnice shape and they were only £60 with stem at crc,and no worries about carbon failure.
Alumnium bars can be cut down on buzzz if tey are butted in the right places.

ednino

I don't see the point in buying carbon bars when KCNC scandium stem and bars are cheaper and considerably lighter.

The UK distributor is clee-cycles.co.uk

ride_whenever

CF bars dampen trail buzz meaning less wrist fatigue.

I want to try some reynolds 9 series steel bars...

Captain Turok

ednino wrote:

I don't see the point in buying carbon bars when KCNC scandium stem and bars are cheaper and considerably lighter.

The UK distributor is clee-cycles.co.uk

I like the KCNC stuff, great value and vlight.
Have you tried either the Wing or Team Issue KCNC stems (92g & 98g)?
I'm very tempted to swap out of my 90mm Thomson stem, but bit worried about it being too flexy??

Northwind

Not all carbon is light, and not all carbon is weak, some carbon bars are built for big hits or downhill and weigh more than an XC metal bar, but are stronger, just like some alumiunium bars are lighter than others. And just like with metal bars, use the wrong part and you're likely to damage it- an awful lot of "broke my carbon bars" stories start out with road parts on XC bikes, or XC parts on bigger hitting bikes, or random ebay parts. And I reckon a lot more include, at some point in the run-up, seatpost clamps or stem bolts overtightened.

ednino wrote:

I don't see the point in buying carbon bars when KCNC scandium stem and bars are cheaper and considerably lighter.

That website claims the 1" risers are 239g measured, that's not lighter than an equivalent carbon bar :? My aluminium monkeys weigh about the same, my carbon ones weigh barely half that. I think you're comparing with a heavy-built carbon bar, maybe?

supersonic

Carbon can offer advantages - not so sure carbon stems offer much. You can get alloy stems that weigh 115g for 20 quid.

I use a RF Next CF bar, is suprisingly stiff, and weighs 175g.

Captain Turok

I'm happy with the MonkeyLite SL, vlight! (635mm with the OS stem).
It doesn't have that final cosmetic carbon wrap that appeals so much tho!

TRIPER

I was reading an artical in some mag a few months ago about Carbon. Things like bars stems and seat post have no rpoblems because they are such an easy shape to make. They have a very low rate of manufacturing (sp?) problems and would inly brake from misuse/accident. If your just doing xc and light trails I would get them.