New Bars - Carbon or not?

booyaka

My current bars are the standard on-one bars that come with the bike.

They are 685 wide and I would like to get some that are slightly wider than this as I feel a touch cramped width wise on the bars.

One of the main issues is should I consider carbon bars. Bike is 456 carbon.

Mainly XC stuff and some trail centres etc.

Considerations so far include -

Easton Haven Bars - Easton 7050 Aluminium (711mm) £60
Answer Pro Taper 720 AM Riser Bar 2011 Black (720mm) £50

Or

Answer Pro Taper 720 AM Carbon Riser Bar 2011 (£110)
Easton Haven Carbon Bars - £110

They both look ideal size wise, I not greatly fussed about 100 grams either way but despite having a carbon frame I have a niggling doubt about carbon bars!!! :roll:

I guess ideally the alloy/alu bars budget wise are more than suitable for me but the carbon bars seem to get such a good write up as well.

Any help or comments?

weeksy59

Do you want to run lock on grips or bar ends ?

booyaka

weeksy59 wrote:

Do you want to run lock on grips or bar ends ?

lock on grips

benpinnick

Carbon bars are safe, comfy and lightweight. I have been riding them for a while now, and bar one manufacturer's recall (Thanks Sunline) I have not had any problems. I have Easton CNTs now and I am 100% happy with them. Cant fault them, just wish they were half the price!

cooldad

Have a look at Exotic bars - www.carboncycles.cc

weeksy59

booyaka wrote:

weeksy59 wrote:

Do you want to run lock on grips or bar ends ?

lock on grips

They say you shouldn't run lockons with carbon bars.

Herbie The Dog

weeksy59 wrote:

booyaka wrote:

weeksy59 wrote:

Do you want to run lock on grips or bar ends ?

lock on grips

They say you shouldn't run lockons with carbon bars.

Whoever they are are wrong...going by that logic nothing should be clamped to anything carbon. I run lock-ons on my Easton CNTs and they are fine...as is the stem, the brakes and the shifters. As long as it's torqued correctly (as everything should be not matter what the material) then it's fine.

bails87

Yeah, if you can't use lock on grips then surely clamping the stem, brake levers and shifters is a no-no too.

I'm currently debating the Ragley Wiser bars. I like the thought of the kevlar protection, unfortunately I'm not sure about the colour of kevlar!

Dick Scruttock

Easton you can use lockon grips with no problem at all.

Anonymous

bails87 wrote:

I like the thought of the kevlar protection

I could do witha giggle, got a long late day at work ahead.
So go on... where's their marketing material for that?

bails87

yeehaamcgee wrote:

bails87 wrote:

I like the thought of the kevlar protection

I could do witha giggle, got a long late day at work ahead.
So go on... where's their marketing material for that?

http://www.bikemagic.com/gear-news/ragl ... 10295.html

it’s the first handlebar we’ve seen that both utilises the lightness of carbon fibre with the stength and impact-resistance of Kelvar

They'd look good on your green bike! :twisted:

paulbox

I was also a bit iffy on going with carbon bars, but bought some Control Tech ones last month and they are great.

Re general strengh of CF: There was a prog' on the beeb at the weekend re F1 technology, presented by Richard Hammond. They demo'd the strength of an identical CF drive shaft over a steel version. Obviously the CF on weighed a fraction of what the steel one did, but it was also more than three times as strong (done using proper testing gear, not 'Top Gear' usual bull of hanging caravans off things and the like...).

allthegearnoidea

why not check the size width on a cheap set of bars form on-one like these (i run the higher rise ones on my bike)
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBFSDHRISE/ ... -handlebar
or higher rise
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBFSDH400/f ... bar-dh-400

cheapeer way to judge if the size is right than to spend £90 and find they are still a bit narrow??? i went for a set when they were in the Silly cheap sale, but mis ordered the 680's instead of the 710's but at a tenner a set of bars wasnt too much of a hardship! have put them on the spare to be build oneday bike!!

maddog 2

If you can afford it go carbon. Nicer ride quality. Plenty strong enough.

I run alu on my play bike, so I can crash it with utter disregard. But my good bike runs carbon.

booyaka

thanks for the interesting/differing views.

Some food for thought!

booyaka

gone with the plain black gloss version of the ragley for £80 - seems like a happy medium for cost (i.e sub £100) but nice and light (190g) for the price.

Will advise!!