Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 45 total)
  • Are carbon bars worth it?
  • eltonerino
    Full Member

    I currently have a set of Race Face Evolve bars on my (hardtail) bike. I’m happy with them, but wondering if carbon bars are better?

    I can get a set of Race Face Sixc carbon bars for £45 (Promo code PAT10 until the 12PM 19th), but don’t know if it would be worth changing.

    The only big(?) difference between them that I can see in numbers is they are nearly 100g lighter.

    Do carbon bars feel different? Has anyone used these bars? Am I pissing into the wind and heading onto the slippery slope of weight weenieism?

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    I like my Easton ones and think they are softer on you wrists compared to aluminium. 100g is not insignificant and £45 sounds a decent price so I would if I were you. 😉

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    They are not really any better but I still have sixC on all my bikes just because the look good and are strong for their weight. If you are happy with 730mm wide then those are a bargain. The sixC are a really good shape and don’t have the horrible tacky manky gold like the renthal I also looked at.

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    otsdr
    Free Member

    Eastons (EC70 flat) are nice and flexy, I have switched to Santa Cruz branded ones and they are stiffer.

    philjunior
    Free Member

    You’re saving about 1/3rd of the component weight, if you did that every time you replaced a component you’d have a fairly light bike fairly soon.

    I imagine the other perceived benefits of carbon bars are fairly marginal though.

    Trimix
    Free Member

    100g is about as heavy as 33 Maltese’s. Just to put that in perspective.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I’d take good alu over cheap carbon anyday so it’s more about the bar and it’s properties. People treat carbon like it’s one thing, it’s more what the maker/designer craft it into. Strong, stiff, light, flexible etc.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Sixc is very good carbon though.

    As someone said, if you’re happy with the 730mm width then go for it OP.

    Personally I love the solid, damped feel of a good carbon bar (Sixc is my favourite).

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    I like mine.

    They were a present, not sure what to expect.
    They do feel different, definitely a little more comfortable using the same grips.
    It’s not huge, but it’s there.

    I don’t think I’d buy myself a pair, but they are nice things to have.

    Hob-Nob
    Free Member

    I was always sceptical of the whole vibration dampening thing people mentioned surrounding carbon bars.

    Recently I rode a weekend with some aluminium bars, albeit a lot of riding over the weekend but I badly broke my wrist last year and it caused me loads of pain. Put the carbon bars back on, no pain when riding again.

    So, from my test sample, it does seem to make a difference to my long suffering wrist.

    eltonerino
    Full Member

    100g is about as heavy as 33 Maltese’s. Just to put that in perspective.

    Yep, or a new born kitten.

    I’m totally undecided 🙂

    cokie
    Full Member

    The RF stuff is good quality and that’s a fantastic price.

    I do believe that wide bars are better though.
    730mm is too narrow if you’re above 165cm in my opinion.

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    After many different trials, I happened upon some non-oversize. low-rise carbon Easton’s for my rigid SS. The smaller O/D & additional bend seems to give them a bit more flex, which was what I was after, but comfy grips make a big difference too.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I’m quite happy with mine (on-one knuckleball, 777mm, hard), lighter and you can definitely perceive a difference between them and the aluminium bars they replaced (and not just a huge chunk of weight).

    Worth it as an upgrade, depend how much £45 is worth to you, if I was 18 and skint, probably not worth it, in a cushy office job and all the bills paid, maybe. I’d probably not get them unless it was for a new bike or there was something wrong with my old ones, they’re not that different.

    Saccades
    Free Member

    My EC90SL are incredibly stiff, too much for long spins when coupled with XMM140’s.

    V.light though.

    Pawsy_Bear
    Free Member

    carbon takes some the buzz out of the ride, I find them better but wouldn’t go cheap

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    100g is about as heavy as 33 Maltese’s. Just to put that in perspective.

    but there’s not that many places you can easily shave 100g and if you’re getting a carbon bar at a good price the £ per g is better than many of the others.

    xcstu
    Free Member

    Yes…

    allan23
    Free Member

    Got a bargain on some Easton EC70 bars about 18 months ago. They replaced same size and rise Easton Alloy bars, straight swap of grips and levers.

    I do seem to get less wrist ache after longer rides, there’s not a huge difference in feel, just not as much joint battering vibration.

    Got me convinced – still too tight to pay stupid money. Achy wrists is preferable to an empty wallet 🙂 I’d recommend to go for something expensive on sale rather than something cheap.

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    If you shave a load of Maltesers and put them into an aluminium bar, it feels just like a carbon one.

    I gained two pounds.
    Delicious.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    I’ve never weighed 33 of these myself…

    Trimix
    Free Member

    Using the power of Maths, I weighed just one in order to come up with my perspective comment 🙂

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    Ah, OK.

    You don’t know what that is in Rolos, do you?

    I hate all these new standards.

    dustytrails
    Full Member

    You don’t know what that is in Rolos, do you?

    Can’t help with the Rolo scale, But…It’s about 5 Mars Bar Fun Size tho!!

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    Right, I’ve got the kitchen scales out.

    50g = 1 crumpet (uncooked).

    eltonerino
    Full Member

    1 new born kitten
    2 crumpets (uncooked)

    5 mars fun size

    33 maltese[r]s

    100 grammes of coke (0 hookers)

    rocketman
    Free Member

    Have recently ditched some Thomson carbon bars they wouldn’t stay put even in an X4 stem. Replaced them with Fatboy Lites which haven’t budged. The price was almost identical

    The Thomsons were 200g the Renthals are 260

    The Thomsons did actually feel quite good in a stiff-plastic kind of way but the Renthals are fine for me

    edhornby
    Full Member

    Isn’t a poo about 100g ? Always go before a ride, you don’t want excess baggage

    edhornby
    Full Member

    Just googled it , apparently it’s 123g so a dump is better than carbon bars

    theboyneeds
    Free Member

    They’re cheap cos they’re 730mm which is just not wide enough for today’s width sensitive consumers. So if you can live with the shame of a bar at least 3cm smaller than your mates then you’re laughing.

    Just have a poo first.

    rs
    Free Member

    If I can have a poo and eat 33 malteasers and still be 100g lighter, its a win win win! I have sixc carbon bars for no other reason than I wanted them, not even sure I notice a difference, but I do eat a lot more malteasers on every ride now.

    andyl
    Free Member

    is the sweep, rise, width etc right for you? Don’t buy them just because they are cheap.

    Back sweep makes the biggest difference to me (have broken both wrists so am sensitive). Carbon does make a difference though but it is variable as some bars are stiffer than others. Sweep is just more important IMO.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    edhornby – Member

    Just googled it , apparently it’s 123g so a dump is better than carbon bars

    Mass centralisation innit, bars are further from the roll centre than a poo is. Assuming the poo is still inside the rider, at least, and not in his shoes.

    andykentos
    Free Member

    I bought exactly those bars. My theory was i’ll see how they look before i fit them and if they feel really narrow i will send them back. Free 365 returns at CRC.

    Running 785 just now but sometimes feel overly wide. If i try them and eventually decide they are to narrow i reckon you can get not far off that price on ebay. Maybe lose 10 or 15 quid on them.

    gravity-slave
    Free Member

    Cheers OP! Good find. Just bought some for my Mrs, to replace her relatively heavy 650mm wide bars.

    Now she can have her Maltesers and eat them. Anyone know the average content of a bag? How about a box?

    With some Nukeproof pedals that’ll save almost 400g off her bike, for £75. Well ahead of the £1 per g rule.

    sync
    Free Member

    The £1 per gramm doesn’t seem to apply to lower end bikes. Once you get to deore/x5 level equipped bikes with reasonable own branded finishing kits and reasonable forks then it gets harder.

    Nice bars thanks for the heads up.

    Tracey
    Full Member

    I think they are, especially after a long day out. That’s saving about the same as the bag of dark chocolate McVitie’s Digestives nibbles that’s on my desk now I’ve eaten a few.

    poah
    Free Member

    had two carbon bars, easton carbon 711mm which are now on my son’s bike and kinesis R750 which were replaced by spank spike vibrocore 800mm. gave up on weight saving with bars

    kerley
    Free Member

    Feeling any difference in materials after going through a suspension fork and a big soft tyre has got to be in the princess and the pea territory hasn’t it?

    I have used carbon and alu bars on my rigid bike whilst also using 1.9 semi slick tyres pumped up hard for summer use and can’t say I felt any difference.

    The only benefit I saw was weight as I was using very light carbon bars.
    They were also cheap and I never trusted them so have switch to Ritchey WCS alu bars which still only weight 220 grams anyway.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Kerley +1.

    I have two MTB’s, both FS and alu bars on one, carbon on the other (Crank bros and Easton).

    I feel no difference, and ain’t bothered about weight tbh. Don’t think I’d bother again.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 45 total)

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