Alloy are much more durable – after a crash alloy bars are likley to still be strong (worst case bent) – where as a carbon set can easily have been damaged under the tape and waiting to fail.

I’m comparing zipp carbon and aluminium bars where there is a 100g difference.

They’re missing a trick there. They should make the alu ones a bit heavier so they can claim even more weight saving for the carbon ones.

My bars are 3T Prima 199 – and yes I did check on weightweenies how heavy the Schmolke ones were before I posted (they’re listed at 140g on there) 🙂 I really don’t see the point of spending lots of money on carbon bars when you have to spend really silly amounts to save any weight over my Primas, and I’m struggling to see any other benefits apart from aesthetic. I have also written off a couple of pairs of bars.

Can someone explain the supossed asthetic difference between carbon and alu? My WCS’s are bulged in odd ways (makes getting into the 260 stem a PITA!), have a glossy finish and also vailable in a matt finish. not seen ‘naked’ carbon since the late 90’s.

And I’m still suspicious of these weight claims of losing hundreds of grammes. The richey stem is amongst the lightest, and it’s alu. And the bars are 230g. Are you comparing the OEM bars the bikes came with against £200 carbon bars, or like for like?

I still think there’s far more between different brands interpretations of how bar’s should feel and two different materials (although I tried a few alu bars so know there’s a difference between them, but haven’t the money to spend on trying several £200 carbon bars).

I had Zipp carbon bars and stem on my road bike for a while, but ended up selling them and going with Easton ally bars and stem. I can’t say I’ve noticed any discomfort or increased road buzz. I have a full carbon fork so that takes care of most of that I think. Plus I imagine tyre choice is a big factor too. Easton combo worked out as pretty much the same weight too. The bike tart in me keeps wanting to get plastic to look more pimp, but it’s a few hundred quid that I simply can’t justify. I’ve done many imperial century rides and never had a problem with comfort or fatigue.

Having said that – I’ve got plastic bars on the MTB! Sometimes the tart wins 😀

There’s a lot of very good carbon bars out there but there are a lot of shite ones to, buying a carbon bar doesn’t automatically mean you’re getting a better bar than an alu one, you need to do some googling for reviews etc.

I’ve done lots of googling and it’s pretty much down to enve or zipp.

Are you comparing the OEM bars the bikes came with against £200 carbon bars, or like for like?

I’m comparing the spec on the zipp website for carbon and aluminium bars.

thanks to everyone who has given their input to this thread

something I am concerned about (as a professional bike mechanic working in a store dealing almost exclusively with high end road bikes)

is that carbon fibre finishing kit (bars, stems, seatposts, saddles) requires careful fitting (inspection of other finishing kit i.e. sharp edges), fibre grip compound where appropriate, use of torque wrenches)

I have lost count of the number of instances where a rider has bought a component on-line, fitted it themselves using allen key multi tool, and then brought it into the store with damage issues normally relating to poor fitment

a big problem with carbon fibre is the lack of elasticity when fitting, unlike aluminium alloy which gives ‘feedback’ when increasing bolt torque; carbon does not give this feedback, it will suddenly “pop” when over tightened with wallet-emptying results 🙁

can think of a specific example where a customer bought a £100 CF seatpost, swore blind he had used a torque wrench, then admitted he had used a multi-tool, broke the seatpost and we did him a deal under “goodwill” on the 2nd seatpost and also sold him a torque wrench at a reduced price

the same is true of crashes, you are not sure what damage you have actually done to a carbon fibre component?

I have first hand seen riders have a ‘bar digging’ crash both on MTB and Road bikes, and then weeks later suffer when the handlebar has failed without notice.

in comparison riders with scratched and even dented aluminium alloy bars riding for some years with few issues (although personally I would recommend changing even an uncrashed aluminium alloy bar every 18-24 months for safety reasons i.e. fatigue)

have also dealt with a number of riders with expensive CF cranks that have suddenly failed, sometimes causing lacerating injuries or crashes (standing up powering, then crank shears), rarely seen aluminium alloy crank arm “fail” usually thread issues with pedal bosses or loose axle / bb fitment

in the off-season we can actually send a frame to McClaren and pay to use their NDT facilities to examine a CF frame for crash damage. hard to do when they are on-season building cars and don’t have time for push bikes!