I’m toying with the idea of getting some flat bars for my carbon forked hardtail (I’m currently riding 5mm rise Spank Oozy bars which I really like) and was wondering what would be best for taking out a bit of trail buzz and whether the benefit would be worth the money.

I’m not worried about weight and could get Torus titanium bars, a Spank Oozy Vibrocore bar and a variety of carbon bars for around the £80 mark; carbon bars would need to be able to take bar ends. I quite like the idea of the chewy On-One Knuckleball bars but they don’t currently do a flat (or low riser) version.

Equally my tyres, carbon fork and fat grips are pretty comfortable already so should I just save my money?

Can’t fault my Mt Zoom bars – nice width, angle, bar end compatible and very light.

I much prefer my spank vibrocore bars to the previous carbon bars. I’ve got the spike 800 bars

I really like my Spank Oozy bar, so Vibrocore may be the way to go.

I’ll unhelpfully throw in another option, Crank Bros Cobalt 11. Comes in a low rise, weighs bugger all, and is very soft (to the point of being a bit alarming to look at). Took me from hand discomfort after half an hour, to doing a 7 hour race without a twinge.

I have the vibrocore oozy bar and was sceptical PDF the whole thing, but it actually does eliminated a lot of the buzz. Only bought it originally because it was low rise and came in that pretty blue colour, but impressed with the damping characteristics.

Alpkit are doing lo rise carbon bars for not a lot

Have a Vibrocore on the DH bike, was very impressed with the tech, helps with high harsh jolts and buzz quite a lot. Had the chewy On-One Knuckleball on my old rigid 29er and they were very comfy bars. Not sure they can take bar ends, would you want bar ends on bars that wide though? you cant cut down the vibrocore much apparently either.

I’d be looking to cut down to 700mm. I don’t think that you’re meant to cut down the 760mm Oozy bars to less than 720mm (although I’m not sure why). My current Oozy bar came in 740mm (it’s an old version) and isn’t a problem at that width.

I am using Easton EA70 on my rigid SS (Kinesis XI fork, Bonty XR3, ESI) so a cheap, robust option with a shape I get on well with and don’t notice any negatives. I’d have thought bar shape, ride position and tyres will have more influence so I’d be inclined to go with your last thought and save the money. Maybe if there’s something wrong with the existing bars it could be good to try something new but I am sceptical there could be a night and day difference on a rigid bike.

PJay – Member
I’d be looking to cut down to 700mm. I don’t think that you’re meant to cut down the 760mm Oozy bars to less than 720mm (although I’m not sure why).

You’ll run out of bar that’s the right diameter for grips/brakes/etc

I have found going from lock on grips to regular all rubber BMX grips makes a big difference in comfort.

Is Vibrocore just expanding foam squirted inside the tubing – like how people customize tennis racquets?

ghetto vibrocore sounds promising [nips off to screwfix…]

noltae – Member
Is Vibrocore just expanding foam squirted inside the tubing – like how people customize tennis racquets?

No. I mean, believe what you want but I asked Mike from Spank this last year. He said they experimented with lots of different foams for two years before settling on one that attenuated vibration and also wouldn’t separate from the surface inside the bar. It also increases the strength of the bar: their aluminium bars last about 400K cycles on a testing rig. Vibrocore bars went for a few days straight and, at 2 million or so cycles, they had to turn the machine off so it could cool down.

I’m currently running Spike 800 Vibrocore on my HT and Sixpack carbon bars on the FS. Both good and have eliminated any hand problems I used to get from riding.

Oh okay … Special foam then … Not hating on Spank – I’m running Spank 777’s myself and the bars are great – the Super Six aluminium is in itself awesome – but let’s talk about this foam ..

Good to hear the vibrocore stuff actually works. I’m a big Spank fan I have a few Spank components but when I first heard about it, I thought it might be snake oil.

It would be great if they did an conversion kit. i.e. a squirty bottle of their special foam you can spray into your existing bars.

No. I mean, believe what you want but I asked Mike from Spank this last year.

Do you have a particular email address? I don’t seem to be getting a response using Spank’s online contact form. I’d like to find out if there’d be a massive problem cutting 760mm bars down to 700mm.

Afraid not. I met him in person and asked.

I bought a set of these for my Chubby Stache. Had the Spike Oozy’s before and liked that shape. Expected to cut them down but left them at a tree splitting 800mm. Also put a set on my Aeris – to replace RaceFace SIXC carbon while i was experimenting with stubby stem/even wider bars. Not got back to the SiXC’s.

They certainly don’t feel ‘worse’ than the carbon bars (the trek had some Bonty Carbons on there when I bought it), or – as far as I can tell – better. They are very stiff tho and there’s definitely damping you don’t get in standard alloy bars.

I’ve got Spanky Oozy at 760mm and they are spot on for me. I’d def consider the Vibrocore if I upgraded. Some great reports.

I have the vibrocore in 760mm, came off a carbon raceface and they feel really good, they just feel less harsh than a normal Ali bar

@PJAY – email hotlines distribution and ask them to forward your email – Can’t imagine cutting bars would be an issue ..

I think this answers your point. They can be cut down but there are issues, not due to the foam, but due to the butting (or at least he doesn’t mention the foam being an issue).

The Impact Ends protect the bar from damage in crashes and slide outs, or from locking grips or barends (where applicable). A Spike 800 Vibrocore bar can cut to 740mm without compromising them. An Oozy 760 Vibrocore only to about 720mm though. If you cut them off completely, you will leave the barend area a little thinner than we feel is safe for that area. I’ve seen people do it without issue….but it will void warranty and we haven’t run the full compliment of lab tests to prove it passes all Spank standards in that case.

Mike Dutton, sales director, Spank

I much prefer my spank vibrocore bars to the previous carbon bars. I’ve got the spike 800 bars

Same here – I ditched my SIXc bars for the Spanks and I prefer the ali bars if I’m honest.

I thought the cutting down to a certain length was to stop you cutting into the foam.

I thought the cutting down to a certain length was to stop you cutting into the foam.

I’ve just had a reply from Mike. The Spank bars have specially butted “Impact Ends” with apparently resist collapse better and support bar ends; you void your warranty when you cut beyond these, which I suspect I’ve done with my 740mm Oozy cut down to just under 700mm which does have stubbies fitted (although the CRC pages wasn’t clear on this) – they seem pretty robust though and Mike advises that folk do cut them down below the recommended length; it might pose a problem with me getting a Vibrocore version unless I can find a supplier selling older and narrower versions.

Apparently the foam ends about 5cm from the end of the bars and shouldn’t be cut through.