carbon bars with integrated stem

hartlepoolmonkeyman

Has anybody purchased any and if so how do they compare to separate bar and stem combination?

StillGoing

Yes, I have FSA Plasma on my main bike. They're no different to a separate bar and stem in feel, but you have to be sure of your reach and rise before you purchase. There's no going back or making alterations. Try and find your set up using a bar and stem set up and use the measurement to order your integrated system. The FSA ones come with an out front mount to mount a power reader or Garmin but the diameter is too small for the actual Garmin out front mount meaning you have to use spacers. The downside of the bars is because they're flat topped, you can't mount an out front device directly to the bars. The beauty is the cabling is internal so you don't need to cover the bar in bar tape much past the hoods.

rolf_f

philthy3 wrote:

The beauty is the cabling is internal so you don't need to cover the bar in bar tape much past the hoods.

If you don't want tape past the hoods, why put any tape on at all?

The other downside of course is usually weight.

Dippydog2

Tape feels nice and stops your hands slipping.

I have a carbon stem and flat top bars but still tape as normal.

Tape weighs less than 80g so hardly an issue.

rolf_f

Dippydog2 wrote:

Tape feels nice and stops your hands slipping.

I have a carbon stem and flat top bars but still tape as normal.

Tape weighs less than 80g so hardly an issue.

As far as my post goes, the comment about weight was meant to be that integrated bars tend to weigh rather more than separate bar and stem.

bigmat

I have flat top carbon bars (not integrated) - managed to fit one of the SRAM out front mounts by filing down where it clamps to the bar. Bit of a tight fit but it does the job. No tape past the hoods - not really nexessary as carbon soaks up the road buzz, doesn't feel cold and bars are a nice shape to hold. I did wrap them for Flanders though!

hartlepoolmonkeyman

Thanks for the help guys :-)

StillGoing

Rolf F wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

The beauty is the cabling is internal so you don't need to cover the bar in bar tape much past the hoods.

If you don't want tape past the hoods, why put any tape on at all?

The other downside of course is usually weight.

So it's smooth rather than lumpy and keeps what little cable is exposed under wraps.

Maybe do weight a little bit more, but my wheels are light where the weight loss makes more difference.

Grill

I have Ritchey Monocurve bars that replaced my Ritchey WCS Curve bars and C260 stem. Weight is 365g as opposed to 360g, but they're much stiffer and damper. Cost is an issue on these though...

sloppyschleckonds

I've got Pro Stealth and Cinelli Ram bars, they look cool.

cycleclinic

The pro stealth bars I got my wife are 400g all these inter grated bars are bit on the porky side but so long as you are not weight weenie you'll like them

rafletcher

I has a spesh Barmac setup, and it was fine. Sold as too narrow. The spesh bars come with a set of shims that allow the angle of the stem relative to the steerer to be altered, thus altering reach and rise by small amounts -1 degree to +7 degrees.