I’m after a pair of 780mm risers that aren’t as stiff as a very stiff thing that leaves the hands stinging at the end of a ride. Any ideas?

I like the Raceface SixC ones for a nice balance of control and damping.

+1 for the SixC bars

I’m pretty happy with my Renthal Fat Bar, but I’ve not had any other carbon bar to compare it to.

Some people recommended the Spank Vibrocore ones, but I’m not sure what sizes they come in.

i think vibrocore come in 780, or 777 at least.
comfiest i’ve had out of not many are Gravity light (fsa) ones, carbon wrapped ali. had some straight carbon from carbon cycles, not comfy!

Stooge moto bars are fabulous. 800 wide, just trim if needed

Well, they seem comfy to me.
Love my RSP carbon Ego bars. Have two pairs now. Light, cheap, comfy…pick three.

Crank Brothers Cobalt 11 is very, very soft, you can see it bend just in normal use. It does affect control a little, you’re definitely less directly connected to the wheel, though not in a way that bothers me at all. I’d be surprised if bars get much softer or comfier

(I replaced an RSP Ego- a fairly typical carbon bar, not especially stiff… And I went from having busted hands after a 3 minute descent, to doing a 7 hour XC race without a twinge, it’s fairly ridiculous.)

Syntave vector carbons are the comfiest Ive tried, theres a twang too them and you can see them flex.

Not sure if they are “soft” and don’t really have much to compare them against, but running a set of Chromag Cutlas bars on my rigid singlespeed at the moment and they are a great shape, and do seem to take a bit of buzz out of the trails.

Went through few sets last year trying to find one I liked and settled on an aluminium Renthal fat bar. Superstar was good, Spank was the wrong shape, carbon Renthal was waaaaay to stiff and gave me arm pump which surprised me. I just wish the ali fat bars came in black.

I also rate the RSP ergo. Switched out the Salsa bars on my rigid Surly Pugsley and now much more comfy. Also <£50 at Tredz with a voucher.

Unfashionable on-one knuckleballs are ace.

Burgtec 800s seem a lot less stiff than the 780 Renthals I had previously. More back sweep too, so a little comfier for me anyway

I’ve been through a few bars in my HT this year trying to get something that doesn’t kill my hands.

Started off with a SixC carbon bar but thought it was way too stiff. Then tried a Spank Vibrocore which was better but an odd shape and am now back on Answer Pro Taper DH bars. I like the shape plus they seem quite skinny (they taper quickly from the stem) which means they flex and don’t kill my hands / arms.

+1 Syntace Vector carbon. Not cheap but all you need.

easiest way to make bars comfy, is to use the correct size for your shoulder width. and I have yet to meet a man with 800mm wide shoulders…………. 😀

sure, for road riding.

easiest way to make bars comfy, is to use the correct size for your shoulder width. and I have yet to meet a man with 800mm wide shoulders………….

That’s fortunate because I don’t believe anyone sells 1000mm+ bars! 😉

In more recent years I’ve used 670, 710, 740, 760, & 800mm bars. Actually the 740 and 800mm bars have single lock-on grips so they’re 750 and 810 wide in practice. The comfiest bars are the 810mm ones. 750 are fine but not quite as good. 710 and narrower give a weird shoulder/arm position.

Anyone got any experience of Chromag BZA Carbon 35s? Got a feeling they’ll be horribly stiff, but tempted by a set.

ton – Member
easiest way to make bars comfy, is to use the correct size for your shoulder width. and I have yet to meet a man with 800mm wide shoulders………….

Rubbish, yes that works for drop bars where your elbows are inline but not mtb bars. put your hands flat on a desk with your elbows comfortably bent and see how far apart your hands are, I’ve just done it and my ring fingers were 720mm apart, so fit perfectly on the 800mm bars on my bike (I run 44cm drops on the roadie which does match the width of my shoulders – I’ve just measured them)

put your hands flat on a desk with your elbows comfortably bent and see how far apart your hands are

I just did that. They were comfiest touching each other in the middle.

so you are saying that a man who runs a 440cm road bar needs a 800mm mtb bar?

I hope you are not saying that. if you are you are a deluded fool.

so you are saying that a man who runs a 440cm road bar needs a 800mm mtb bar?

I hope you are not saying that. if you are you are a deluded fool.

I don’t ride road bikes but I do know that the body position is completely different to MTBs.

If I tuck my shoulder blades in and down and draw my arms back into a strong riding position (similar to a benchpress / push-up position) my hands end up more than door width apart. That’s the best width for riding a bike fast downhill if the trees are far enough apart.

If you want to ride your MTB like a road bike then by all means use a narrower bar if you want.

If you want to ride your MTB like a road bike then by all means use a narrower bar if you want.

I use 710mm bars, which a just wider than my shoulders. and I am quite wide across the shoulder. like nearly double the width of most blokes.

I bet you wear all the latest ‘nduro’ stuff too don’t you?
fashion eh……….. 😆

Could people not just, you know, help with the question, rather than having to be ‘right’?
I’ve got narrow shoulders and much prefer a wider bar to a narrower one. Horses for courses.

Like my Joystick 35mm Carbon bars

Could people not just, you know, help with the question, rather than having to be ‘right’?
I’ve got narrow shoulders and much prefer a wider bar to a narrower one. Horses for courses.

I agree. sorry for my grumpy old bastard input.
use whatever bars you want.
renthals were always good when I used them. 😀

I can’t say I’ve ever noticed a difference in stiffness between bars. Alloy, steel, carbon. They’re just bars to me. 😕

Arm pump is surely more affected by your riding position, bar/stem set up and how relaxed or not your arms are.

Hand cramp – better grips.

I use 710mm bars, which a just wider than my shoulders. and I am quite wide across the shoulder. like nearly double the width of most blokes.

Rachel Atherton has much narrower shoulders than you or me, has been unbeaten for almost two years and uses 800mm bars. Fashion?

I bet you wear all the latest ‘nduro’ stuff too don’t you?
fashion eh………..

I usually ride in old Helly Hansens and my shorts are black, not day-glo. My bikes do have sub 65 deg head angles though! 😛

Unfashionable on-one knuckleballs are ace.

That

Knuckleballs are good in the Chewy version but those are only 750mm I think (ive not tried the wider hard version).

Personally though, Spank Vibrocore. Such a good bar overlooked because its not carbon. After a week in Morzine this summer, with its baked in braking bumps, my hands were so much better shape compared to previous years with Easton or renthal bars.

Superstar Lithium carbon bars are very good, but they are rarely in stock.

Feel free to drop me a line if you’re interested in buying a used one.

ive not tried the wider hard version

I have, they are good

To the OP:

What are you currently using?

How long is your ride? Is it time or distance that is the problem?

Is your bike set up correctly?

I’d look at the last one first – getting your bike set up. I would get numb little and ring fingers on long rides (by long I mean 150Km or more), fine up to 100Km then increasingly sore. I eventually sorted it but it took a while as I’d only change one thing at a time and it would also take a week or more for the numbness/tingling to stop. I now ride a rigid bike and still don’t get any problems.

Spank spike vibrocore user here too. Much better than any carbon bars I’ve used.

I’ve been interested in the vibrocore bars for a while. Any of you who own them able to tell me whether the logo could be easily removed or is it lacquered in to the bar?

Dead easy… Its all in the angles. stooge moto bars

groundskeeperwilly – Member

I’ve been interested in the vibrocore bars for a while. Any of you who own them able to tell me whether the logo could be easily removed or is it lacquered in to the bar?

I have 2 pairs of the Race Team bars with massive yellow logos. You might be able to get the graphics off with nail polish remover of some other solvent but they seem pretty well adhered. I just covered it with some electrical tape, not to obtrusive that you notice immediately.

charlie the bikemonger – Member

Dead easy… Its all in the angles. stooge moto bars

The right sweep can certainly help, but something like vibrocore makes an alu bar much more comfortable. I wish they sold it as something you could add to any bar. I can imagine it would have an amazing impact on road or CX bars.

Sweep is very personal though. Ive tried all sorts of fancy swept bars and hated all of them, midge, Jones, Titec-jones-copies, marys, woodchippers, 11* salsas. Basically my wrists dont like being anything other than straight. 9* sweep is about the most my wrists can be comfortable at, as despite being 6ft4 and wide shouldered my elbows tend to stay tucked in, adding sweep strains my wirst at an angle it doesn’t want to be at or pushes my elbows into my ribs. I wish they did work for me, it wasn’t cheap to try them all only to get numb hands, sore wrists or strained elbows.

What has really improved my technical riding is wide bars which move my arms away from my sides, and longer reach bikes to let me move backward and forwards on the bike. I can still be comfortable on narrow bars fine as long as they have very little sweep to keep my elbows out, but its harder to ride technical stuff so overall comfort can suffer. Road/cx bars are fine as the hand rotates to vertical to hold the hoods or drops, its a different bend of the wrist.

Charlie your link isn’t working and stop mentioning moto bars and Jones’s, I’m skint and it’s making me grumpy.