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I am musing on the other bar thread about this, with an option to stick with alloy 730 bars that came with the new bike (Anthem) or pop on a new pair of 711 alloy Havens.
Will the material benefits of the light carbon ones be noticeable in the real world ?
Absolutely not, but your wallet will certainly feel lighter.
I've had a few pairs or carbon bars and I've never noticed any damping effect running front suss forks. Maybe I should try it on my rigid and report back....
I used to get pins & needles in my fingers, tried everything changes in set up etc then I borrowed some carbon bars from the same company that was already fitted to my bike for a while & voila, no more discomfort. They worked for me no problems since
Had alloy renthal fatbars, my Lbs offered me the carbon version at a really good price and I caved. Make bugger all difference as far as I can tell, esi chunky grips have a much bigger effect on comfort
Second ESI grips being the best upgrade for comfort.
Carbon havens are lovely things, you'll feel the benefit in loveliness.
On my rigid bikes carbon bars are a nice bit of comfort, on the bouncy stuff they're there because carbon.
Went from Easton havoc alloy 800mm bars to carbon same brand... No difference even though I keep trying to convince myself there is...
thanks all. The Carbon ones are going back and I'll have £60 in my pocket, cheers
May not notice it in riding, but when you get the carbon bars in the post you think they've given you an empty box. They are a fair bit lighter and that will make a difference, just you may not realise it as you adapt. If the rest of the bike weights 40lbs then obviously it's sod all difference though.
They're also nice bling and I tend to find a lot of alloy bars have a more matt / anodised finish and I prefer the shiny smooth finish of a carbon bar 😀
I bought a pair of those Havens on special at CRC because I tried everything else to stop my hands going numb but nothing worked - but the Havens did!
However, if you don't get numb hands then I don't think you'll notice any difference.
Had some on one Alloy bars on my rigid 26er and certainly noticed a difference when I swapped to some Carbon bars.
However I now have some triple butted alloy Ritchey bars on my Rigid 29er and that feels better still ,but that has Carbon forks whereas the 26er had Cro Mo forks both running ESI style foam grips.
I'd be interested in a comparison between carbon and titanium.
Anyone tried that?
My carbon bars feel very similar to my alloy bars of the same length, I'd quite like to try the chewy knuckleball bars tho.
I've ridden carbon bars for about 8 years now and was almost buying/speccing them out of habit than anything so when I bought an off the peg bike with alloy bars it was a good chance to see if they were a placebo or not. Despite funny shaped body geometry grips, 5 inch tyres and 80mm suspension travel, it still felt oddly jarring. Carbon bar purchased after a couple of rides, nice ride feel restored.
I'm a carbon tart but none of my bars have had any difference in feel that I'm aware of- enve, superstar and crank bros now, truvativ and assorted eastons in the past, plus piles of metal ones. They all just feel... barrish. Unless the sweep or rise is wrong when they can be orrible. Not saying there's no difference, I just can't tell it.
I don't notice any difference in damping either. But I love my Thomson carbon 750mm bars. They look gorgeous, they're light and beautifully subtle in sweep.
Depends on the bars. I've got Thomson carbon bars and they're stiff, no different to anything else. I put some 3T carbon bars on wifeys bike and when I leant on them they flexed so much I though they were going to break.
I've had a short spin on her bike on a heavily rutted track and they make a big difference, even with a suspension fork.
I've noticed a reduction in arm pump since fitting Race Face SixC bars in place of my old Atlas FRs - same shape and rise. Could just be coincidence due to riding more, weight loss (me not the bike), and increased fitness though.
as said, you can notice on a rigid front end but less so on a HT/FS.
Popped on some new extra wide bars the other week and second ride some slippery limestone had me down fast and hard and the bars were modified to 15 degrees sweep on the left side...No idea if carbon would've been as impressive.
Probably a placebo effect to be honest, but it sure feels good to get a pair out of a stupidly light CRC box. 😀