Gravel Bars (Carbon vs Alloy) (Flared vs Regular)

Started by 00Garza, January 19, 2023, 11:27:44 AM

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What's your preference for gravel bars?

Carbon
Aluminum
Flared
Regular

eeney

Let us know how they go. 

I bought these ZNIINO  bars but I found the shifters slipped even with carbon paste, needing to tighten them to a point where I was sure it would damage the carbon bars.... also, for my preference the bars weren't thick enough, but that's personal preference I guess.

For anyone in Sydney, Australia my Zniino bars are free to a good home.

00Garza

Quote from: eeney on January 24, 2023, 04:13:37 AM
Let us know how they go. 

I bought these ZNIINO  bars but I found the shifters slipped even with carbon paste, needing to tighten them to a point where I was sure it would damage the carbon bars.... also, for my preference the bars weren't thick enough, but that's personal preference I guess.

For anyone in Sydney, Australia my Zniino bars are free to a good home.

Oh man. I'll keep an eye on that. Might have to get an alloy bar as a backup just in case. What shifters were you using?

ChinerStevie


eeney

Another consideration with flare is the angle of your shifters.  I went with super flared Ritchey Beacons, but the flare meant that my shifters were angled inwards to an extent that I didn't like it.  Rode them for a while but couldn't get used to it, so I went back to 12 degree flare.

I'd like to find bars where the 'flaring' occurs further down, so the shifters stay in a normal vertical position, but the drops are flared. However, it's difficult to tell if this is the case from just looking at pictures online.

hsaus

Quote from: eeney on September 25, 2024, 05:50:04 PM
I'd like to find bars where the 'flaring' occurs further down, so the shifters stay in a normal vertical position, but the drops are flared. However, it's difficult to tell if this is the case from just looking at pictures online.

Some brands (e.g., ZIPP) refer to this as "outsweep" rather than flare. In the absence of a detailed CAD-style drawing, a top-down photo can be helpful to distinguish between the two.

Here's a ZIPP handlebar with outsweep: https://www.sram.com/globalassets/image-hierarchy/sram-product-root-images/handlebars/handlebars---drop/hb-drop-svc-crs-sl-70xplr-a2/productassets_hb-dbsc-sl7x-a2_fg/hbsvccrssl70xplr44ccbdbka2criderh.png?w=1000
(Source: https://www.sram.com/en/zipp/models/hb-dbsc-sl7x-a2)

And here's a Specialized handlebar with flare: https://assets.specialized.com/i/specialized/21023-324_CMPNT_COMP-ALLOY-SHORT-REACH-FLARE-RD-BAR-318X42_TOP?$scom-pdp-product-image-xl$&fmt=auto
(Source: https://www.specialized.com/au/en/short-reach-alloy-flare/p/218331?color=352981-218331)

Some handlebars have both flare and outsweep, so that's another option.