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In an attempt to steer conversation away from Hora's bowel evacuations, I thought I would ask people for ideas on replacement bars, given that my current ones are no longer straight after a slight mis-hap.
I'm hedging towards carbon because, well, it's awesome, but anything else that's good quality for the money is something that I would consider. Easton are a firm front runner right now, but I'm happy to consider other decent brands.
You'll need to say what width, rise, sweep, and weight you want - and at what price. Otherwise you'll get a thread containing everything from Mt zoom ultralights to truvativ boobars.
Since we might as well just start listing the bars we all currently use because they are obviously the best ever: Thomson Downhill bars.
Thomson alloy am
750mm 12 degree
Easton Havocs ali or nylon.
I'm a big fan of the current Answer bars and have Pro Taper 780's on both of my bikes.
I'm too tight for carbon bars.
Bars are just tubes with a curve in so its pretty hard to screw that up. Even Crank Brothers bars do a good job of giving you something to put your hands on.
Consequently you will now have loads of people going "my bars are the best!!!!".
For the record - my bars are really the best and they are Easton Haven Carbon.
I've got Easton Havocs in placcy.. Very good bars.
Also look at Raceface sixC bars, wide and pretty colours.
Winstanleys have a couple of good options, Kinesis strut (750mm) and Crank Bros Iodine 11 (780mm) for £80 a piece, I just got a set of the Iodines and they're really nice- and lighter than claimed too.
Don't really understand the appeal of Thomson tbh, aluminium weight at carbon prices.
Just been out to the cave to measure them up...
670mm end to end with a 31.8mm diameter at the stem and 22mm diameter at the grips. It looks like they have about 25mm of rise and about a 10 degree sweep to them.
Worth just browsing Wiggle/Merlin/CRC etc and seeing what's cheap?
Renthal Fatbar Lite (Alloy) - 740mm, 20mm rise, and a bit of sweep (no idea really), anyway I'd say they are the most awesome, but I've not even fitted them yet.
Ooooo! Gold! That would go with the paintjob too. Nice suggestion.
But then again, Merlin have Easton EC70 carbon bars in for the same price. No medium rise in, but stock of 40 and 20 mm. Decisions, decisions.
Another nod the the Renthal bars here. I have the 30mm rise on my FS and the 10mm on the 29er.
Got them from here, with no probs:
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/55367/Renthal_FatBar_Lite_Alloy_MTB_Riser_Bar
I've tried Answer Carbon and thought I loved them then I thought I'd try Renthal Fatbar Lite to get a bit more width. Awesome upgrade! There's something about the bend and sweep that just fits perfect.
Tart that I am, I went for the cheap/reduced Easton EC70 carbon bars. Carbon loveliness...
Ragley Wiser carbon/kevlar wrap for me in natural finish..
Those on-one knuckleball bars look promising - available in two levels of stiffness too
They have arrived! 150 grams of carbon loveliness in a box that weighs more than the bars!
I went home for lunch to fit them, the realised I needed to modify my workstand to hold my bike, so spent lunch drilling holes and screwing wood to my workbench to act as a bracket. However... I did manage to fit them tonight and they are lovely. Just the right amount of sweep, a little higher in the rise than the last bars, but very nice.
I might even go out at the weekend to see if they make me a better rider.