Thinking of getting some carbon Carnegies for a new 29er build. I think the sweep of something like a Mary will be too much for me, and the Carnegie seems like a decent middle ground (along with the Groovy Luv Handles, but a Ti version is twice the price of the Carnegies and the cromo is an anchor). Any thoughts on these bars, particularly with regards to longer distance comfort and multiple hand positions..? Cheers.

i was looking at em also as you say marys a bit extreme !

carbon carnegies look good but also looking at jones H bars ….. same extreme as the mary nearly BUT with more positions to vary it.

then im also bearing in mind what skillsguiding said about h bars just not working right on the td-1 !

I'm using them (not the carbon ones)

Downsides
You need to do the stem up tight – really tight, otherwise they can slip round if you hit something hard
You get fed up with people asking where your basket is

Upsides
Comfy
No loss of control whatsoever
Much, much better on climbs

I gave them a try. I found they accentuated stability on fast, loose and lumpy stuff, and were more twitchy and unbalanced on tight slow stuff. This accentuated both my strengths and my weakness and I went back to a regular riser.

cheers guys. sounds like it might be a suck-it-and-see deal, not a cheap experiment though. T_R…what's that about the H-bar on a TD1?

not quite sure but he sold a pair of ti h bars and said that they just didnt work on the frame

I rode 65-ish miles at Hit The North on a rigid bike using a pair, and did not suffer from ****'s wrist the next day. I think they're fairly neutral in control terms, but I'm used to Marys anyway.

Any thoughts on whether they allow comfortable alternate hand positions?

I like Marys and H bars … I think the trick is not to think too much about them, yes, they all look a bit odd but if you just ride and don't look at the things they work great.

*If you're the slightest bit worried about what other people think of you or your bike don't buy any.

i like fleegles less extreme than mary but comfy

im looking at putting tribars on mine – so im ready to be slated 😉 carbon ones are out for me

Most bars allow different hand positions … we just limit ourselves to where the grips are and don't think past it 😉

Well, on my regular risers I bring my hands inboard quite a lot, looped over the brake reservoirs. The bend of these "alt" bars might get in the way of that kind of thing.

Any thoughts on stem length with this bar? I use 80mm with my Mary bar at the moment, so I'm presuming that'll be spot-on for the same bike if "upgrading" to Carnegie's…

I like a racy set-up with low bar height if that makes any difference.

Dude, not being silly, but I had a look at this writeup, and looking at the sweep etc, and the fact you're going to roadie 29er tyres you need to be careful you don't end up with this:

😯
Albeit littered with bling…
Especially if you decide to do Audax on it and have to put some guards on.

Nice bike, dude, I especially like the basket!

Luckily mine's gonna look pretty much exactly like this but with less sweep on the bar:

And my roadie 29er tyres don't always have to make a bike look like your one:

:wrists snap: