Any Titanium Handlebar users out there?

I have a Thomson flat bar. I like it because of the sweep. Being titanium is just a bonus. (It's on a Ti frame).

I’ve had the Stanton bars for a few months now and they are great. To be honest the Ti was a little bit of a luxury/treat to myself. I needed some replacement bars and wanted to move away from carbon. I wasn’t expecting huge differences given all the claims of carbon bars ‘tuned for compliance’ etc. However the difference was immediately noticeable, they take out so much trail buzz, it amazing.

Highly recommended

I have the titanium Salsa Salt flat bar. Like Compass, it was bought as a treat to myself. It looks great, I like the sweep angle, and it seems comfier than the Easton EA70 that preceded it, but I'm not sure how much of that is my imagination trying to justify the cost.

Thomson flat bar here too - very comfortable - looks gorgeous - also on ti frame - £90 from eBay few months ago

Are they actually lighter than an aluminium equivalent? Or better at damping vibration than your current carbon stick? Probably not.

Feels like paying high end carbon money for minimum actual benefits apart from being able to bore people with a whole spiel:

"these bars are titanium like the SR71 and my replacement hip, they cost more than most other handlebars so you know they gotta be good, right..."

Still there's that one selling point isn't there, that dull grey finish, mmmm, it's reassuringly grey like the paint on an old hyundai... People will know, they will absolutely know, that you've got a bit of vaguely coldwar related memorabilia steering your rig.

Just buy the bars, what else are you going to waste your money on?

Those Stanton bars look pretty (that dhould be a good enough reason).

Hardtail Party (on YouTube) seems to like his Roost Ti bars.

Looks like I'll be placing my order, then... I'm the first to admit that I'm a bike tart and this is a good dose of tartiness ..

Compass - Interesting to hear you have them already. Do you know the weight of them by any chance?

Are they actually lighter than an aluminium equivalent? Or better at damping vibration than your current carbon stick? Probably not.

I have Ti bars. They are very slightly lighter than All equivalent but not enough to actually make it sway any decision. I don't find any bars better at damping and not really sure how anyone would even measure that with a 2+ inch soft tyre and suspension fork but people seem to like to think they can feel it.

I have them because they look nice! They are also more durable in that they don't chip like carbon and any scratches/marks from levers etc,. can be buffed out with some fine wire wool.

I had some a decade ago, actually found them in my dad's garage bizarrely, I think they came spare with a second hand bike that he bought and he just didn't realise.

I just remember wishing I had used a torque wrench when tightening the stem faceplate. I eventually broke them in a crash that took my tibia down to the bone and left a little lump of flesh dangling off my break lever 🤮 but one of my mechanic buddies highlighted how much the bar had bulged 'into' the centre of the stem from my overtightening it, and the cracks all propagated from the edges of the bulge.

So yeah, buy a torque wrench

I have Ti bars. They are very slightly lighter than All equivalent but not enough to actually make it sway any decision. I don’t find any bars better at damping and not really sure how anyone would even measure that with a 2+ inch soft tyre and suspension fork but people seem to like to think they can feel it.

I bought some of the spank viborocore bars. They are the aluminium bars with special magic foam inside. I bought them because they were the cheapest bars I could find with a 50mm rise and my forks were second hand with a slightly short steerer.

They were noticeably more comfy than the race Face carbon bars on that bike and the renthal on another bike. So much so I have 3 sets.

Is it the magic foam? A higher rise, better backsweep, placebo, different wall thickness in the aluminium... Pass. It does feel better 🙂

I have ordered some from Stanton, the email said they’re on order and will be available in Sept/Oct. Unsure if this affects your decision…

I don’t find any bars better at damping and not really sure how anyone would even measure that with a 2+ inch soft tyre and suspension fork but people seem to like to think they can feel it.

You reckon, try riding offroad with a cheap steel bar compared to what you use now.

eft a little lump of flesh dangling off my break lever 🤮

Ouch! what did you do with the flesh!?

You reckon, try riding offroad with a cheap steel bar compared to what you use now.

I have ridden with all sorts of bars off road on a rigid bike with 25c tyres and never noticed any difference. And why should steel be worse than alu based?

Have had 3 sets.

One Ti thomson which was heavy at 730mm more heavy than my triple butted Rust 780mm risers and caused a FUNN nduro stem to noticeably like visually flex.

One set of Kingdom bars which saw one ride before selling bike at 780mm and a reasonable weight.

One Rust components set of risers 780mm triple butted and best feeling set of bars like ever.

Really is worth it over carbon any day all day for various reasons.

kerley
Free Member

I don’t find any bars better at damping and not really sure how anyone would even measure that with a 2+ inch soft tyre and suspension fork but people seem to like to think they can feel it.

I used to think that but the difference between some bars is enormous. When I built my fatbike, with its 4.8 tyre, you'd think that'd make everythign else irrelevant but with the original bars I was literally having hand problems in the time it took to ride broon troot at glentress, about 2 minutes. Replaced that bar with a super bendy crank bros bar and rode a 7 hour race solo without even a twinge. It's daft but it's real.

Just looked up the price. WOW.

Is it the magic foam?

Have had the Spank Vibrocore bars in various guises on all my hardtails for a fair few years. I’m normally skeptical of claims like the ones made about Vibrocore, but they make a big difference. I’d love Ti bars (Roost or Stanton), but the price is nuts. If you can afford, go for it.

Agreed on the vibrocore bars.

Sorry Tdoyle I didn’t weigh them. Not carbon light but not girder heavy either, if that helps?

Have Vibrocores on all my bikes and rate them. Replaced them with Stanton Ti on my Ti bike (Loco Moto) and really like the ride feel. Also look great!

I had a go on some Rust bars on a demo bike, riding some fantastic enduro trails including a very long descent.

There definitely seemed to be a special, more comfortable feel (I'd ridden the same model bike and components with normal bars before).

I would love one for my Starling. They only seem to come in flat or 15mm rise though. And I'm not made of money.

It’s strange, when I bought the Stanton bars I really wasn’t expecting any massive differences. Without a true blindfold test (that I imagine would be fairly dangerous😬), I don’t think I could have come into it with more of an open mind. So much so that I really wasn’t thinking about it. I just put them on, thought they looked nice and promptly went on to thinking about something else.

So first ride out it was a bit of a surprise that they felt really different. It just felt like they were taking out the buzz from the trail. I know others have questioned if this is realistic given soft, fat tyres and suspension being more impactive on feel. However it was noticeable. I’m not talking ironing out small bumps or anything like that but just a reduction in vibration.

Like I say, really impressed. Is it worth the significant cost? Probably not, but as a nice side effect of a purchase I would have made anyway, it’s a real plus.

Thomson Ti Flat Bars on the Ti single speed bought purely to match the Ti frame &
Thomson finishing kit

I've got two sets of Meriwether ti bars 800mm wide with around 25 degree sweep. They're lovely. Running one set on a rigid 29er and one set on an Orange Stage Evo.
Can be made to your preference for sweep.

A lot of 35mm bars (Aluminium and carbon are too stiff, and the same for some 31.8mm bars. Especially if they start off at about 800mm and you cut them down.

Race Face we’re renowned for having super stiff carbon bars.

I had titanium jones bars on my tripster and was very happy with them, until I tried (bought) carbon jones bars and the difference in ride comfort was very noticeable, sold the titanium bars pretty quick.

Save yourself £120

￡95.67 | Tiris Titanium Riser Handlebar For 29 Mtb Bike Accessories Gravel 700C Bicycle 25.4/31.8mm 580-780mm GR9Ti Custom
https://a.aliexpress.com/_vrO3OL

Email from Stanton says the bars have landed, two months early...

If anyone was swithering....

@plus-one - I am sure the cheap AliExpress to bars will have a very similar quality and reliability to a more reputed brand.

They might be as good as a reputable brand. Or they might be as good as the ones Sick brought in…

My Stanton bars arrived on Monday. Very nice indeed. They are ~300g so same weight as my current Fatbars. I will be fitting them once my 31.8 stem arrives, but given the backsweep is considerably more than the Renthals, should I look at a slightly longer stem or will it not be noticeable in terms of reach etc?

I had not heard about Vibracore bars before, but for years I have been stuffing ethafoam or polystyrene 'sausages' inside handlebars to provide damping by contacting the metal internally and not allowing ringing to occur.  You can hear the difference when you ding the bar and you can also feel it when riding on buzzy surfaces.  Some bars/bikes respond better than others.  It weighs and costs almost nothing so give it a try.

M

If/when I build a Stanton Switch9er FS Ti, I'm going for a Roost bar/stem

@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR if you keep an eye on their site they often have 20 percent off. Very happy with mine, both are very nicely finished.

Anyone had a go with the Locked (kingdom sub brand) ones? Thoughts?

Locked bars are fine, got a custom 4 piece riser set and standard moto bars, have loads of other ti bars, moonmenn, black sheep, jones, stooge "tazbah" bullmoose etc...and im now doing ti bars  with a mate as a side project to keep ourselves entertained and get interesting stuff made that works for us and may work for others

That Roost setup looks good and I'm a sucker for a matching bar and stem. Surely the titanium stem can't be that much better/lighter/different than a good aluminium one and it's 3 or 4 times the price.

Ti stems and bars are loads heavier than the Alu/Carbon counter parts.

suposedly more comfy though. I’ve not tried Ti bars yet, but buggered if I can tell the difference in the stems.

Do look ace though.