[Closed] Comfort of carbon bars

I've never detected any differences in feeling between bars to be honest.

Perhaps I'm just a princess

It's very variable tbh, carbon can be stiff or soft and alu bars aren't all the same either (the difference between my old Enves and my Crank Bros Cobalt 11s is huge frinstance).

I'd swap your other bars onto the new bike to eliminate that

Over harsher terrain, the difference between the alloy bars that came with the Wazoo and the On One "chewy" Knuckleballs was pretty noticeable.

I can't tell any difference, once any buzz has been deadened by tyres, sus forks, grips, gloves, can't see bar material mattering - shape, yes. Someone should do a blind test...

The difference is not that noticeable until it is..... I was plagued by sore hands for a while there!

I used to say there was no difference, carbon was a waste of money etc but then I changed from one brand of alloy bars to a different brand, still alloy, and my hands were aching after every ride. They were the same sweep and bend as the previous brand but they just seemed so stiff/harsh!

I have since switched to some carbon bars that have been really great.

Bend, rise, sweep, width, grips can all make a difference though.

Thanks for the replys, I think the sensible thing to do is to swap a bar over from another bike and have a play.

It's just a huge pain to change over....

Maybe have a play with the suspension too. The forces are transmitted up through the suspension and though the primary purpose of suspension is not comfort it can be used to take the sting out of the lumps and bumps of the trail.

I used to think it was all bollocks until I tried a Spank Vibrocore bar. It's just some sort of foam inserts, but they just seemed to help massively with damping vibrations

I tried carbon bars but sacked them off because they killed my hands despite have the same sweep etc as my preferred alloy bars. Ultimately I just think the SixC bars are super stiff. Much happier on my Pro Taper 780's.

I echo what others have clearly mentioned about stiffness and especially what mindmap3 says.

Plus if you find a set of great feeling in measurements alloy bar, that I personally would prefer over carbon anyday.

I was impressed by my enve bars but only because £90 odd was the most I'd ever spent so justification of my purchase came into play there and guess what they were far too stiff and I wouldn't want to crash on carbon bars if I were to crash.

Invest in a decent set of comfy grips and nicely angled alloy bars and you'll be much better off for it. 😉

I've just pulled the bars off and the sweep is huge compared thomsons. So I expect that has a big difference to how they feel.

So if they do feel better is it because they are carbon or have a better sweep?

DezB - Member

I can't tell any difference, once any buzz has been deadened by tyres, sus forks, grips, gloves, can't see bar material mattering - shape, yes. Someone should do a blind test...

Blind test is doable but tbh not necessary, get on a soft set of bars and give them a bounce and you can genuinely see them bend, it's kind of insane. I went from a superstar carbon bar and massive hand pain after a minute's descending, to the crank bros and riding all day without a twinge.

Spank Vibrocore on my bikes sold nearly all of the carbon bars I had, just more comfortable

It was the bar shape that was the problem. I’ve gone for a aluminum Thomson and they are great.

I dropped a cash bomb on some Thomson carbon bars. I couldn't notice a difference between them and the aluminium bars I'd run in the past, and still run on other bikes. Foam grips made a much bigger difference. They do all the things the jurnos profess a carbon bar does, i.e. reduced hand fatigue, increased vibration damping. I'd absolutely recommend trying foam grips if you've never used them before.

That's my experience of exactly one carbon bar though. Maybe the Thomson bar I have is especially stiff.

I have a set of Enve's on one bike & a set of 35mm Renthal Alu bars on the other bike. Recently swapped them over as I wanted to get ready for night riding on the HT & none of my light brackets fit 35mm bars, so the Enve's went on that.

Still can't tell the difference. I know the Enve is quite a stiff bar anyway however.