[Closed] Carbon bars for the road bike

I don't really think there are any significant benefits to carbon bars apart from shinyness. Admittedly my best bike has 3T carbon shallow drop bars which replaced Deda shallow drop aluminium bars which in turn replaced WR Compositi carbon bars.
If you want them - buy them 8)

[i]I don't really think there are any significant benefits to carbon bars apart from shinyness[/i]

I think much the same myself to be honest, but if carbon is more flexy then I'd rather have ali, the trade off being the weight difference.

Major benefit for me was comfort, gets rid of a ton of road buzz.

But doesn't a carbon stem do that? So I'm thinking carbon stem and seatpost with aluminium bars. Probably zipp.

I'd sooner use carbon bars with an aluminium stem than a carbon stem and aluminium bars.

Bars are better suited to carbon and stems are better suited to metal IMO (unless you have a novel carbon stem design and not just a copy of a metal one).

Carbon bars can also be stiffer than aluminium but still provide good damping of road buzz. You wouldn't dream of using an alumnium fork would you? But if people want weight reduction then they have to accept some flex.

I may have slightly overdone my road bike - carbon cranks, pedals, seatpost, saddle, rear derraileur, bars, stem, ergos, and hubs.... 😳

I'm fairly sure zipp and enve for example have carbon stems that are a unique design and not just a copy of a metal stem. Thanks for the feedback though.

I recently got some Control Tech Carbon Comp bars from Germany at a reduced price. They look a bit bonkers but they definitely mute some of the vibration from the road compared to the alloy bars they replaced. They also have cunning internal routing for that tidy cockpit look. 😀

It probably varies more from manufactuer to manufacturer than it does material to material.

I went for matching Ritcheey WCS evocurve bar and 260 stem, both aluminium. Weight wise there's fek all in it, certainly not 100g. On mine it's about 30g between comparable ritchey bars.

My only experience of carbon bars were some bontranger race-x-lite's. Hated the shape, and the drops just felt vague and wobly, almost to the extend the left hand didn't feel parralel to the right hand cornering on the drops!

carbon over anything alu anyday. Apart from the lightness, the looks, they also are more confortable and very stiff.

Mmm I thought carbon bars weren't as stiff as aluminium

depends how they're made dunnit.

aye

they also are more confortable and very stiff.

+ 1

Mostly about comfort for me, but they make the bike feel more like a single object as well - rather than a collectuion of bits bolted together.

Hope that makes sense.

I'd sooner use carbon bars with an aluminium stem than a carbon stem and aluminium bars.

Opposite to nearly every pro then?

I prefer alu on the race bike, everything feels wonderfully stiff. Though I have carbon bars and stem on the training bike, these though are as heavy as alu otherwise I found them too flexible.
I'm not exactly a lightweight pro tour rider though, someone two stone lighter might not twist them.

A lot of carbon stems are still a bit of a con - essentially a carbon wrap over an aluminium core. Renders most of the advantages carbon might have over aluminium pretty redundant. I got to have the if-carlsberg-did-tours of tours around the F1 McLaren Technology centre a couple of years ago and their take on this sort of component being composite was that it was a waste of time (we were expressing some surprise at the number of CNCed Aluminium components they were still using).

Got some carbon bars with the aero flattop purely for the extra hand position and comfort nothing in it weight wise or stiffness that I could tell. Wasn't an issue with the ritchey alloy bars or the carbons that replaced them.

I'm fairly sure zipp and enve for example have carbon stems that are a unique design and not just a copy of a metal stem.

And they're both heavier than a decent alu stem!

I've had several carbon stems, but alu makes more sense IMO. I'd definitely go carbon bar with alu stem rather than the other way around.

I have to say I like Bontrager stuff, won't necessarily suit your frame though.

Although I have carbon bars on all my mountain bikes I have looked into getting carbon bars for the roadie but for the weight factor carbon bars are often heavier than alu and are three times the price. On this alone it has become unjustifiable for me.

Decent carbon bars certainly aren't heavier - zipp for example have around 100g difference between the carbon and aluminium in favour of carbon. Maybe twice the price.

I'm leaning towards a full carbon set up.

you could get a good deal on Zipp contour sl trad drop carbon bars at the moment.

contour sl bar and an sl145 stem weigh 190 and 135g respectively dependant on size. £365 brand new posted email in profile.

Opposite to nearly every pro then?

and they don't have different requirements and obligations?

its weight savings really? at a big expense..

Personally I would save carbon fibre for frame and fork on a road bike

and keep the aluminium alloy for the bar, stem, seatpost, rims and cranks, but what do I know?

[i]Personally I would save carbon fibre for frame and fork on a road bike[/i]

Well I e already got that, and saddle and cranks.

Thanks for the offer toppers3933 but that's only a £7 on wiggle price before any vouchers deals they're doing.

and keep the aluminium alloy for the bar, stem, seatpost, rims and cranks, but what do I know?

Not singling you out, but I'm going to bite... why? Carbon seatposts are just about the norm these days on top end bikes. Plenty of advantages to carbon rims too, although I don't see the point in carbon clinchers really.

Why cranks? It's more a function of which brand you go for after all. Shimano or Rotor will be alu, virtually everything else will be carbon, why would carbon be inferior?

The pro analogy falls down due to the weight limit I mentioned on the other thread, plus their different requirements, different properties in crashes etc.

I do agree on stems, as I said above, having had several they're just a bit pointless, either marginally heavier than alu and no stiffer (Ritchey WCS), or stiffer, but far far heavier (Bontrager XXX Lite etc).

fair enough. i am a shop not a private sale. probably should have mentioned that. 😀

im currently running contour sl bars and a service course sl ali stem and it is a great setup. plus the stem is miles cheaper than the carbon version.

some people dont trust carbon. not entirely sure why. ive seen more failed ali posts and stems than i have carbon.

I fitted a Williams elan CCS bars and matching stem.
Saved a shed load of weight. The bars really have quietened down the road buzz compared to my old alloy bars.
The trade off is they are a bit flexy on the drops. But i only ride on the drops to escape the wind so thats ok.

http://www.williamscycling.com/lan-CCS_p_87.html

Carbon bars every time for me, definitely more comfortable.
Don't see the point of carbon stem to bee honest , but mine works for me 🙂

[IMG] [/IMG]

carbon bars do seem a fair bit lighter, around 80-100g

Ooh - I need to know where I get my 100-120g carbon bars?

carbon over anything alu anyday. Apart from the lightness, the looks, they also are more confortable and very stiff.

Laterally stiff yet vertically compliant?

Ah that makes a difference toppers3933 although I'm looking at the short n shallow bars.

[i]Ooh - I need to know where I get my 100-120g carbon bars?[/i]

Not sure what you mean but I'm comparing zipp carbon and aluminium bars where there is a 100g difference.

Are you saying you've got 180g aluminium road bars?

Ooh - I need to know where I get my 100-120g carbon bars?

Schmolke TLOs are 130g 😉

Not sure what you mean but I'm comparing zipp carbon and aluminium bars where there is a 100g difference.

He has some 200g alu bars, so for carbon ones to be 80-100g lighter they'd need to be 100-120g

[i]Schmolke TLOs are 130g[/i]

And more than twice the price of zipp or enve. Bar, stem and seatpost would be seriously spendy.

Note the winking smiley, was the lightest I could instantly think of.

Edit: that said they're on sale for €370, so not that much more than Zipp ones.

i can do 46cm (44cm c-c) shallow drops at a good price but for some reason the other sizes aren't on offer with supplier. i have the short and shallow and they're comfy.

I've recently got some carbon 3T ergonova bars. Light as a feather and really stiff laterally for climbing.

The only 'flex' seems to be if you hold both hoods or the extremities of the drops, you can sort of 'twist' them fore and aft.

Feels a bit weird at first, but you soon get used to the fact that this is how they dampen road bumps.

There's no noticable flex when honking out of the saddle...

Also, got to say, the Ergonovas are the nicest profile of any bar I've used and I love the flattened aero/ergo section on the tops...

I'm an alu bar fan myself, you have to be careful with carbon bars in that a cheap or poorly designed one is often as heavy (or heavier) and more uncomfortable than an alu bar. There's also the issue of crash damage being difficult to spot (bars tend to take knocks in road crashes), I know someone that had a crash, had the bike checked out after (inc. some bits replaced) and the next ride the original carbon bar snapped when he was on the drops. now you could easily argue that's the shop's fault or it would have been the same with an alu bar but I'm not convinced.
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.

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 😀

[i]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]

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

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

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!