Doesn’t help that my dad would just yell at me to toughen up and stop crying. I still have nightmares about that feeling. Remember when you were a kid and you’d hit the ball a little too low on the bat - a bat made out of aluminum. Why would you want that? It takes a bit of the sting out of the small bumps and trail chatter. A carbon bar, in theory, should offer more vertical flex. We can apply that same idea to handlebars. Bikes like the Transition Spur, Orbea Oiz, and Cannondale Scalpel forgo the rearmost pivot in favor of flexy seat stays. To prove this point, some bikes rely completely on strategic flex rather than pivot points and bearings. Unlike alloy, carbon can be tuned to provide more or less flex based on the layup. Where the true benefit lies is in the ride feel. Compound that with your wallet getting roughly $100 lighter, and we’re talking about nearly a quarter pound of gains. So, if you’re really going hard with the weight weenie thing, there are some benefits to carbon - roughly 100g of benefits. Let’s talk about what the MTB industry says about carbon vs alloy handlebars.
When it’s all said and done, I’m going to guess which handlebars were which and do a big, dramatic reveal. That way I won’t be able to see which ones I’m on. In order to remove any potential bias, we are going to completely cover the handlebars in tape. I mean I buy the expensive toothpaste because someone tells me it’s “better.” So I’m certainly not able to overlook that carbon bars are supposed to be “better.” Here’s where things get a little tricky with this test. I want to compare and contrast ride feel and performance. The idea is to do a lap with one set of bars, swap them out, and go for a second lap.