For feel and vibration absorption? (not considering weight and strength).

Talking >700mm bars if it makes any difference.

Mine aren’t noticable at all having failed to turn up from chainreaction…

No difference if your shock is working alright. I got some as they were a good deal 2nd hand. Just looks good and is light.

I’ve got some on my newest bike. I didn’t actually know I did until about three months and several hundred miles after I bought it.

The bike goes left when I steer left, it goes right when I steer right, they haven’t snapped: woo, go handlebars!

as the owner of a carbon fibre stem / handlebar combo (came with the bike) I can say, hand on heart, as and when they need changing I won’t be looking at carbon – no issues with it, except cost…

Removing trail buzz?? Really??
If tyres / suspension are not assisting with that doing that, then…

Their much better than alloy bars, I noticed the difference. Get the Easton havens from merlin £97 they are sweet. Most people on this forum like to put stuff down unless its retro, ss or 29er! And they probably have carbon frames but will then say the bars are a waste of money! Get some they are a vaste improvement.

I’ve had some carbon only bars that flex loads and although not really noticeable probably will absorb some *buzzword warning* trail chatter, have got some carbon DH bars with alu inserts that are stiffer than a stiff thing.

Havens are what I am looking at – £100 for carbon, £60 for aluminium. Currently have EA70s.

Anyone compared two same/similar range out of the 2 materials?

Both me and a friend had easton ea70 bars and went to ec70, the ec70 were a much better bar even the weight difference seemed to help handling, not sure how but it was a noticeable difference all round. Moved to the havens and they are another improvement, have also paired them with the haven stem which is also excellent and only £65 from merlin bargain once I sell my Thomson for £40! Also consider the haven carbon bar has a lifetime warrenty and the alloy ones are only 5 years.

I went from Easton EA70 alloy bars, to Easton carbon bars. Thought the talk of carbon bars taking out some trail buzz or whatever was a lot of marketing nonsense, but I really noticed a difference compared to alloy bars.

Have since owned some alloy Azonic Doublewall risers, and they were less comfortable than the carbon Eatons, but still better than the EA70’s, so I think the alloy Eastons are particularly stiff. Currently have Raceface Six C carbon bars on both bikes, and they’re great, make of that what you will…

I had to have my right thumb reattached with wire and pins after basically ripping it off in an accident, if I ride with ally bars my right hand is dead after an hour, I can ride with carbon bars for hours no problem,
don’t know why properly but there you go, definatley less Buzzy

Worth it IMO. especialy if you do distance stuff and don’t move about a lot on your bike..
Buzz is illiminated.

Slightly off the subject, I’ll probably not bother with carbon road bars anymore.

yea i got mine of single track oversized fsa carbon pros for $£15 there great if u get them cheep by them there and then

Can’t say I notice a difference between Carbon and Alu’ bars. Maybe I don’t ride enough.

Ruscle – does it state lifetime warranty with the bars? Have been looking for warranty info for a while for the havens.

Dead hands is something I am hoping carbon will help with. Rocky decents leave my right arm/hand feeling battered (tennis elbow/carpel tunnel…)

I dont ride enough, but they DO make a difference in absorbing buzz and worthwhile I reckon.

So the overall conclusion is that there’s no way it could possibly be the placebo effect or minor differences in bar shape making these differences then?

I only say this as carbon is far stiffer than aluminium, and surely you wouldn’t want to make a deliberately flexy bar (bearing in mind how stiff we all like our forks etc.), which admittedly would be feasible by altering the layup…

Sorry for being so cynical and there is part of me that wonders about natural damping etc. and whether it’s the vibes in the bar rather than just what they transmit directly (if you see what I mean), but I’d really want to see something scientific to believe it, especially at the huge cost and tiny weight saving of carbon bars.

It was interesting seeing a friend break her carbon bars in a low speed fall off a small jump 2 weeks back…

I have carbon bars on one bike, Ally on two others. I suspect the forks and grips are rather more important in deciding what gets transmitted to my hands/wrists. Generally when I get numb hands later it is because I have been gripping too tight. And it is as often with the carbon as the ally.

I only say this as carbon is far stiffer than aluminium, and surely you wouldn’t want to make a deliberately flexy bar (bearing in mind how stiff we all like our forks etc.), which admittedly would be feasible by altering the layup…

IIRC Brant stated that his carbon Ragleys were more flexy than alloy

andyl- Yes on the paper work you get with the bars it states the different warrenty periods on their bars.
Philjunior – even scientists can make mistakes! Just try them, only proof worth taking notice of and weight saving isn’t that small, you can loose atleast 1/4 of a pound in weight.

EC70s, which I have on one bike, certainly feel excellent and probably slightly less jarring. Main problem I have with carbon bars is that most are so damn narrow. EC70s and Havens are the only ones I’ve found affordably second hand that are wider than 660mm.

So where are the 720mm+ carbon bars?

Without arguing at the 1/4 of a pound saving (about 100g yeah? probably ballpark right – I certainly wouldn’t say “at least” though unless you’re talking fairly poor Al bars). On a bike weighing about 30lb. With a 200lb or so rider. Pretty tiny saving.

I’m not saying it’s not a worthwhile saving if you want a light bike – it all adds up – its just one of the last things I’d bother doing if I wanted to lose weight from the bike. Which I don’t, cos until I stop eating so many pies and start racing, it doesn’t really matter.

And scientists can indeed make mistakes – but other scientists can repeat their scientific experiments and prove the mistakes have been made. I guess translating the science into the real world would cause an equal amount of internet discussions anyway, so my point is a bit rubbish.

Easton havoc carbons are 750’ish I think, looking at some side by side to some havens in my LBS the other day and they’re definatley wider than 720

Why would anyone want a bar over 660mm anyway (oh I forgot because its in fashion at the moment low rise mega wide) Silly me!

I road Stockport to Bristol, mostly on road on an Orange 5 towing a trailer with Panaracer Fire XC Pro tyres, rear shock locked out and Fox something or other fork not locked out and I could hardly feel my fingertips when I arrived.
Orange Supercross risers fitted to the bike for that one.
A couple of months later I rode Stockport to Bath, mostly on road, same bike, set up, trailer etc. except that I had by then fitted some Easton EC90 risers, my fingers felt fine.
Not very scientific but I had happier fingers after the second journey.

Removing trail buzz?? Really??

Yes really.

Not having a dig at this poster in particular, but it’s a fairly widely known quality of carbon – I don’t get why people seem to want to be sceptical about it.

Bloody luddites.

One area to look at is tennis (and other) racquets. No one would ever dream of making any out of metal anymore as composites take out all the vibration – also pick axes and sledge hammer handles which are often ‘unbreakable’ fibreglass these days. Just on a bike there is a lot more in between the trail and your hands. But forks (especially air ones) won’t filter out high frequency vibrations.

I was very tempted by the ragleys but people do seem to say they are flexible.

Short list is:

Ragley Wiser (720)
Haven Carbon (711)
Raceface Sixc (730)

The latter are 40% more though – hmm.

New Easton havens are very good, no noticeable flex. my only gripe is the paintwork has gone all gunky and worn where my levers are. The Easton Haven 70mm stem is a perfect partner too. Also got the Pro flat bar which is very stiff, forgot how good flat bars can be.

I have the SIXC bar (got mine cheap). It is shaped a bit like the RF Atlas AM/FR bars I think, so doesn’t have much backsweep.

I probably prefer my old Easton DH monkeylite carbon bar tbh – but that’s not as low or wide.

went from ea50s to the carbon dh ones and noticed an improvement in vibration absorbtion

im gonna get some for my commuter too as thats got riigid forks

Since your accident Oldgit you seem to be shunning carbon, Is it the cost of replacing it due to crashing or some other reason?

I have some FSA carbon bars which I swapped out from alloy bars and the reduction in trail buzz on my regular routes was noticeable from the first ride.

Removing trail buzz?? Really??

Yes really.

Not having a dig at this poster in particular, but it’s a fairly widely known quality of carbon – I don’t get why people seem to want to be sceptical about it.

Bloody luddites.
LOL – Look up Luddites / Marsden, West Yorks – it’s where I live, it was a Luddite stronghold!

Appreciate you’re not having a dig, let me clarify – I’m no luddite – current bike is a hardtail, it has carbon seat + chainstays + carbon seatpost and is considerably more comfortable than the aluminium back breaker it replaced so, I’m happy to say I do believe carbon does ‘soften the ride’.
I remain sceptical that there is a noticeable difference on an MTB where the system is specifically designed to steer the bike whilst ‘eliminating’ trail feedback – namely high volume tires and suspension. This is based on my recollection of comfort on the current bike – carbon bars and stem -v- the old bike, alu bars and stem… Happy to accept carbon does help with road buzz on road bikes – rigid forks, skinny, high pressure tires = much more feedback up the system, to the bars…
🙂

No noticeable difference for me.

Easton DH carbon’s on mine, 711mm and weigh 220g.

They do take out the jarrings, same as the carbon seatpost also does – which isprobably easier to quantify.

If the cap fits then eh Marsdenman?

😉

I noticed the difference straight away…They are so my more sexier 😀
FSA K-Force..
I got em for £66 new from Chain reaction

i fitted a flat carbon set ( answer i think ) to a pompino for a while, exchanging a flat renthal bar. thought i had a soft tyre first time i rode it up the road. whether i could feel the difference on a 2.35 knobbly with front shock i don’t know.

FWIW I have a set of (steel) rigid forks, and some foam grips.
Noticable difference between ali and carbon bars, but not as noticable as the difference between 1.8″ and 2.2″ tyres!
Carbon forks next…

My Ragley wiser bars arrived today. One end is cracked which could happen to any bar but looking at it that end is much thinner than the other. Doesn’t say much for quality control.

Think I’m going to stick with metal.