I'm want to change the EC50s that came with my bike. Wrist ache and numb fingers are causing me a few problems at the moment and I wondered if a change of bars would help? Any thoughts on these bars would be greatly received.
Mary bars on 2 bikes
for me best with the ends sloping slightly down. So need to be a little higher on the steere for the same position
bought for a wrist problem and helped loads
as they cost less than 1 physio trip...
I have marys and no doubt your hand and wrist end up at a much more natural relaxed angle. cornering might be a tiny bit compromised, jumping certainly is IMO / IME. good for sore hands/ wrists, not so good for technical riding
The fleagle pro is a great bar and comfortalble to boot.
Tried Marys - nice, but onone "need" to make bar ends to suit IMO
I had some carnegies.After to'ing and fro'ing with stem lengts to get a similar reach to 'normal' bars I found them super comfortable especially on longer rides where I used to suffer with wrist ache.However I missed the 725mm width of my old bars and more crucially they promote an elbows in style of riding and being on an ss I found the loss of leverage from being unable to get right over the front too much of a compromise.Salsa 17degree flats are really good in a not so extreme type of way.
Got mary's on one bike very natural feel to the hand position but feel a bit odd /slow ateering on technical stuff ,one of my mates with wrist problems uses bar ends to allevieate pain,
Jones Loop Bars?
I have them on the 9:zero:7 and I think they are really comfy. Feels weird riding a standard bar now.
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crucially they promote an elbows in style of riding and being on an ss I found the loss of leverage from being unable to get right over the front too much of a compromise.
This is what worried me. I like to climb on my SS and stand up over the bars. I was worried the sweep on these bars would be too much of a compromise :-S
The salsa's may well be a good half way bet then.I think they even do plastic ones too.
had Mary bar and currently on Carnegie..
the mary was really good, once you adjusted to it I personally found that the narrow (ish) backswept position gives [i]more[/i] leverage when pulling.. If you're really trying hard to pull upwards on something you have more leverage with a narrow grip right..?
Imagine trying to pull up on something off the bike.. you don't spread your arms wide to get more leverage you bring them closer to your body..
I really found them them to be quite an aggressive bar.. no problems on severe rocky tech trails at all.. the Mary feels like you just use your shoulders and arms to do the work rather than your whole upper body, leaving you with more options regarding body position and weight distribution..
I tried the Carnegie to see what all the fuss is about wider bars.. hmmmm... the jury is still out for me.. I don't find the wider position so aggressive as the mary although it feels more natural and comfortable over distance.. I'm more confident with it but then suddenly don't feel so in control when things are right on the edge..
I put some Mary bars on my hardtail about 10 days ago. It took maybe 3 rides to get used to it and I really like them. It removed all aching from my thumb and wrists, the relief has been almost instant. I think that if they were slightly less swept back it would be more comfortable for me but they are certainly much better than the 9 degree sweep my old bars had. Today I turned them over so I'm running them upside down, just to try it out.
I wanted some similar bars for my full sus but wanted the extra width that I'm used to on that bike so literally about 10mins ago ordered some Salsa bend 2 bars. They are 23degrees instead of the Mary bar 40degrees and are 710mm, so a fair amount longer as well.
Used all 3 and currently on a mixture of Mary and Carnegie. They differ in degree of backsweep and I do find the Carnegie more comfortable than the fleegle or the Mary, although the fleegle and the Mary have the advantage on price. Mary came on my 456 complete bike and is still there. Mary is a riser and like someone else above I find it more comfortable if tilted back slightly so that needs to be taken into account when planning stem length/rise. Fleegle is flat and I had it on a 29er. Eventually replaced it with a flat Carnegie. Difference was fairly marginal, but I find all of them more comfortable than a standard flat or riser bar.
I find carnegie's great for XC and SS, just the right amount of width and great angle on the wrists for longer rides, as Druidh says ordinary risers feel weird now
Cant help but wish my carnegies had more backsweep . Plenty wide for me but the hand position is closer to ideal than a normal bar but just feel it could be better
Ran Marys on my old SS and Fleegles on my current SS. Liked them both. The Marys felt more natural to me and despite my initial fears, both coped ok on the technical stuff I feel is within the limits of my SS.
Must admit though that I'm more of a wide, flat bar person so toying with the idea of replacing the Fleegles with something like some Salsas, Titec Flat Trackers or Nukeproofs.