Carbon Bars on a cross bike

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Permalink Reply by Tony ONeill on August 26, 2010 at 2:15pm

I have not used them nor do I plan to for cx. Take a look at a few of the pro bikes and I dont think you will see to many either. I've watched 2 friends break them this year road racing and typically the break clean and scary.

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Permalink Reply by Slonie on August 26, 2010 at 2:18pm

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I'll have at least one crash during a race this season. I'd prefer to have some peace of mind when I get back on and keep riding. In other words, my carbon bar privileges are revoked!

But maybe you don't plan on crashing... If this is the case, I have a spare set of unused EC90SLX bars, never mounted, if you'd like to try your hand at it ;-) (Easton calls them 44cm, and they're about 2cm narrower than my other "44cm" bars, so I can only assume that they measure edge-to-edge)

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Permalink Reply by Katsu Tanda on August 26, 2010 at 2:22pm

Farm,

I've seen plenty of broken carbon bars in road and in cross. I would much rather buy 2-3 aluminum bars instead of one carbon one. You can usually finish a race with a bent aluminum bar but carbon will just snap.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Hopkins on August 29, 2010 at 5:05am

I understand everyone has heard horror stories about carbon road bars snapping but why is it that no one is afraid to use carbon MTB bars? I'd think that would be a bigger worry.

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Permalink Reply by MarvinK on August 29, 2010 at 12:23pm

I'm not sure why anyone would want carbon bars... even my high-end 14lb road bike has aluminum bars. If you have $200 burning a hole in your pocket, look at weight savings somewhere else.

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Permalink Reply by Lance Johnson on August 31, 2010 at 7:21pm

I have 3T carbon bars on one of mine. A friend known as "helicoyle" (helicoil) because he breaks everything used Edge carbon bars last year without issue. I think they are fine as long as you know what you're getting yourself into and you don't spec something superlight weight. 

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Permalink Reply by DStudley on August 29, 2010 at 7:28pm

I personally have never seen anyone break a set of carbon bars, and on the other have had a set of aluminum bars fail on my cross bike. Of course my bars failed doing some mountain biking and sort of folded away without kiling me or crashing dramatically...

My wife and alot of the others in the elite women's field run them (never spent any time in the pits for the elite men). In general though I would say that is what they use since that is what they are given, and understand is the best (Best story they are going to come up with is vibration dampening). You the consumer is then supposed to pay more to have what the pros have. Personally I have a nice set of aluminum bars and am completely happy until some sponsor give me one heck of a deal on a carbon set.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Davis on September 1, 2010 at 3:08pm

well i put a set of EC90SL that i got for less then $100(new) this year and i hate to say it but they feel really good and they take the "buzz" out of a lot of courses. and i know they may brake but like Brian said i have carbon bars on my MTB and never even think about it, and the Pro's here in Bend do run carbon bars, so we'll see what happens this year.
first cross race is tormorrow night! yippy!!
Dan...

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Permalink Reply by Jason on September 1, 2010 at 4:28pm

I am on season three with my carbon EC90 bars...plenty of crashes...some chips...no breaks. Total confidence. Oh and I weigh 190 pounds.

I also have multiple years on EC90 carbon mountain bike bars.

I have alloy bars on my two other cross bikes, but my A bike has the carbon...they ride nicer...hard to describe but the vibration dampening is helpful and I like the ergonomics of the eastons (I am sure their alloy bars are similar).

I wonder how many people who fear the carbon bars ride carbon forks? I have seen far more carbon forks break at the steerer tube (due to incorrectly tightened stems) than carbon bars.

But I have seem some smaller brand carbon bars break in cross races...during crashes. To each their own I guess!

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