If you found gravel riding via mountain biking, you may have heard of Spank Industries before. You may even have used some of its components. The company is best known for its handlebars and rims – and its Vibrocore technology.
Spank has brought its mountain bike tech to the gravel market
What is Vibrocore?
As the name suggests, the Spank-patented tech is designed to dampen vibrations. A foam core is applied to handlebars to reduce hand/arm numbness, fatigue and arm-pump. When applied in rims, Vibrocore is meant to not only dampen vibration, but also adds lateral stiffness and torsional strength. We rode a prototype version of these bars and loved them. The Vibrocore really seems to work.
If all that sounds a little like wishful thinking and marketing speak, we’ve had a really good experience with the technology in its mountain bike applications. Andi loved the handlebars.
Given that most mountain bikes have at least some suspension, and higher volume tyres than gravel bikes, we can see the tech being even more beneficial on a drop-bar bike. Anything that cuts out a bit of trail buzz should be a good thing, right?
Handlebars
Spank has launched two handlebars with its Vibrocore foam: the Wing 12 and Flare 25. Both are alloy bars and come in 420mm, 440mm and 460mm widths.
The Wing 12 has shaped tops and a subtle flare.
The Wing 12 has, as the name suggests, a very subtle 12º flare and ergonomic tops. We have been testing a prototype version of these for quite a while now – the shape of the tops has been tweaked for production, but in general we could tell the comfort difference that the Vibrocore offered. It’s obviously not the same as strapping a suspension fork on your bike, but there was a clear reduction in trail “buzz”. While the Flare 25 is, er, more flared and keeps a round profile across the tops
The Flare 25 is – you’ll be surprised here – a more flared bar (25º of flare, actually). It keeps a round profile along the tops to make it easier to mount lights, computers etc.
Rims
To complement those bars, Spank is also releasing some gravel rims – again using Vibrocore. The rims will be available in 22 and 24mm internal width.
Vibrocore rims to match
Pricing
All products are available now, along with new bar tape and accessories:
where do they measure the bar width to and from? 460mm centre to centre is normally good for me, but measured outside to outside, would be too small. Also – who brings them to the UK?
where do they measure the bar width to and from? 460mm centre to centre is normally good for me, but measured outside to outside, would be too small. Also – who brings them to the UK?