[Closed] carbon bars. ..are they worth it

I've got Rf carbon ones on one bike and Chromag aluminium ones on another. I cannot tell the difference when I swap them around. Both bikes have front suspension so I don't know if rigid would alter it.

Yeah, if there's a feel difference I'm oblivious to it, bars can be a bit stiffer or softer but that's true for alu as well...

Mostly it's just weight and bling imo. And it can be a fair old weight saving, my newest ones are 200g for 780mm wide risers, for a tough bar, I don't know what the lightest alu bar would be at that spec but probably 100-150g more. And I paid £80 compared to, say, £40 for a boobar so the price difference isn't huge.

I find carbon bars more comfortable on the hands and have them on each of my 3 bikes.

I've only ever really used carbon bars. No idea if they feel any different but they look better and are lighter. That's all that counts...

I wouldn't go back to alu on my rigid bike

Yep...but I wouldn't spend more then £80. My mt zooms are really comfy and my kenesis struts a bit stiffer. Both sub 180g...but don't look bling IMO

I know Shorelines were doing Chromag carbon cutlass bars for around £55 which is a bargain.

Cool..after a bling factor..sad I know..those chromag look great value at that price although 10mm narrower than what I have at moment

I agree they are a little narrow but at that price!!

I have 2 sets of Easton havens on 2 bikes, one carbon, the other alloy and there's an instantly noticeable difference In feel/stiffness....carbon all the way.

but they look better

I prefer the look of alu bars, but choose carbon for the damping and stiffness.

Easton Havoc has an extra 10mm on the Renthal and a hell of a lot more experience and proven reputation behind it.

Can't break mine despite several big crashes and dropping it off the car at 30mph.

Would love a higher rise Havoc, but I'm waiting for the Renthal Fatbar carbon which is in proto atm.

chakaping - Member

Easton Havoc has an extra 10mm on the Renthal and a hell of a lot more experience

TBH whoever Renthal got to make them probably has as much experience as you could want. I was just put off them because they're fugly.

I hope carbon bars are worth it. Just put a pair of Easton EC70s on my bike, but have yet to ride them in anger. They are incredibly light compared to the stock alu ones.

[quote=chakaping ]carbon for the damping and stiffness

😆

Come and give it a try aracer.

🙂

Presumably the increased stiffness helps with the damping?

Presumably the increased stiffness helps with the damping?

Play nicely

😉

Carbon bars on my rigid bike (xlite) much more flexy than alu on my hardtail (niner). That is all

Yet chakaping's are stiffer, how strange.

I've had both and couldn't tell any difference. With high volume tyres and modern suspension I can't really see how they could?

aracer - Member

Yet chakaping's are stiffer, how strange.

What's strange about that? 2 very different bars. It'd be weird if the heavier bar built for harder use wasn't stiffer than the xlite one tbh.

Also, stiffness and vibration damping are 2 different things, you can have stiff materials that pass on vibrations or that mute them. (think about tools- I have an all steel shovel that rings like a bell and a steel-and-composite one that doesn't, they're equivalently stiff and strong in use but only one of them vibrates my hands to bits.)

Whether there's actually any practical difference in damping with bars, I don't know, I can't feel it through my squidgy grips if it's there. But it's certainly not ridiculous.

Use 711mm havens and they're more or less spot on. Been using carbon bars for so long now couldn't tell you if they feel any different to ali.

I'm looking forward to trying the chewy knuckleball bars from on-one

I had Easton Havens on my now stolen bike. Really liked them. Anyone seen any deals around on carbon bars?

I recently fitted carbon t-mo enduro bars, replacing ally and was quite excited. How silly I felt when I realised the was no noticeable difference whatsoever. They look cool though.

[quote=Northwind ]Also, stiffness and vibration damping are 2 different things, you can have stiff materials that pass on vibrations or that mute them. (think about tools- I have an all steel shovel that rings like a bell and a steel-and-composite one that doesn't, they're equivalently stiff and strong in use but only one of them vibrates my hands to bits.)

Apples, oranges. What you have there is damping of vibration generated in the shovel, not vibrations external to it. I may be misunderstanding, but I assumed that when people talk about "damping" in bike parts they're talking about damping the vibrations external to those parts - or is chakaping actually buying carbon bars because they vibrate less when he holds them and hits something with them? However good the "damping" might be, a stiffer bar is always going to transmit more of those external vibrations. A handlebar clamped in a stem has plenty of actual vibration damping from being held at the ends by a pair of hands via squidgy grips - I think you'd struggle to make one of any material ring when in use.

Oh, and are you sure the composite shovel isn't stiffer (maybe the all-steel one is stiff enough that you don't notice the flex in use, despite it being significantly less stiff), as the stiffer one will inherently vibrate less.

Shameless plug for some wide and cheap carbon bars.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171352392751?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I was told by on one that these are actually made by renthal.

aracer - Member

What you have there is damping of vibration generated in the shovel, not vibrations external to it.

What does that even mean? The vibrations aren't generated in or out of it, they're generated when it interacts with other things. And once they're in it, it matters not at all where they started.

Sorry, poor terminology - I mean that the shovel itself is vibrating. Handlebars don't really vibrate themselves, and that's certainly not the vibration people are looking to damp.

I'm confused.

Anything that is struck will pass waves (vibrations) through the materials where possible.

The inherent stiffness of an item is it's ability to resist bending.

Any 'vibrations' are most likely caused by the wheel hitting various objects and these are subsequently transmitted to somewhere they can be felt - unless they are damped

A stiff item may or may not transmit vibrations dependant on its material characteristics - or damping.

Stiffness and damping aren't the same thing. You can have stiff materials that are inherently self damping and much more flexible materials that are also self damping. Carbon fibre and sorbothane are about as chalk and cheese as you can get but both of them are self damping, just at quite different frequencies and with different Q's as bulk materials.

and do Renthal make their own carbon bars? I assume whoever said that mean they are made by the people who make them for Renthal.

[quote=sq225917 ]Stiffness and damping aren't the same thing.

Did anybody say they were?

Carbon fibre and sorbothane are about as chalk and cheese as you can get but both of them are self damping

I imagine sorbathane would be quite good at the "damping" people actually want from their handlebars - unfortunately it wouldn't meet the other requirements of bars.

The point is that vibration damping in the material isn't doing anything useful, not if the bars aren't actually flexing - all the forces are being transmitted with no opportunity for damping if there is no flex.

Never noticed difference in flex between bars really, but then I don't much with frames either. However I have two sets of Easton Havoc carbon bars, purely because they're sexy, wide, and one came with one bike and the other I got for half price. They're definitely much lighter also, but I'm no weight weenie.

And don't worry about toughness. Havoc carbons for example are some of the toughest bars there are, full stop.

How much a section of a given material deflects under a given load (stiffness) is not related to its natural frequency, ie the vibrations that make it sing like a tuning fork. Carbon fibre vibrates very differently to aluminium. Even so, I couldn't notice the difference.