Thinking of going flat bar and stem
 

Since installing the 120mm fork, the handling of the bike has changed quite a bit. Ive noticed my front wheel coming off the ground when climbing. To compensate, Im considering a flat bar and a 0' stem. Im realizing that most of my trails are XC oriented so Im trying to get out of the FR mindset. Besides, I want to start training for races.

These are my bars of choice:

RaceFace Next XC Carbon Flat Bar

FSA K-Force XC Flat Bar

Easton EC-70 Carbon Flat Bar

My stem of choice is the Thomson Elite (90' @ 70mm)

Whatdya think?

I like the easton bars flat bar myself and you can never go wrong with anything made by thomson

What type of races are you training for?

I mean, why did you put the 120mm fork on there if you ride mostly xc trails and want to get out of the freeride mindset?

I don't think it will help... your back will not like it, and when I had the same problem, I went from a 90mm 15deg to a 105mm 0deg and performance still sucked. No offense, but this is why we always warn people about putting long travel forks on a bike that wasn't designed around it.

Have you considered bar ends to help in getting your weight distribution further forward when climbing?

I'd say that's a good idea. :)

I went with a flat bar this year, one of the best upgrades I've done to my bike. Used to want to pop the front up on climbs, now it's very controllable, especially on those stupid steep climbs. I've noticed no problems descending with the flat bar, or any steering twitchyness, although it's only an inch narrower than my riser was.

Why not buy a cheep on to try, if you like it then shell out the big cash for a trick carbon bar (the RF Next is VERY nice)?

I dont like carbon handlenbars because of the lack of options for bar ends, these are a MUST for me. I think Ritchey makes fantastic handlebars, I ran the EC70 and sold it because i wanted bar ends. I ordered a Ritchey pro lite handlebar and i can honestly say i feel no difference. With the money i saved there i got a really nice WCS stem :)

For two reasons:

1. It was a great deal on a great fork for about 50% off.
2. I had a nasty RST Crapa 80mm

Im not complaining at all, I love the new fork but I was just looking at different options for bar and stem. The main reason why XC racers use flat bars is to position their bodies more forward for inreased power and torque right? Maybe Ill try the RaceFace Evolve XC bar first. Its fairly inexpensive.

Or maybe I can angle my current riser bar so that it is perpendicular with the groud instead of angled towards me?

Why not run bar ends on an EC70? I run one, cut down to 20" with Ritchey WCS ends. There's guys on here running EC90s with bar ends!

WHy? because the easton website said not to, and it would probably woid any warranty i could have on them so i just didnt want to chance it. Plus if anything goes wrong with my handlebars im pretty much screwed. So for 26 dollars i got a brand new Pro lite MTB bar frm RItchey logic. It weighs a whole 20 grams more and i have greater piece of mind

If you cut most carbon bars down you can't run bar ends, the ones that are meant for bar ends are reinforced on the ends... cutting them down cuts off the reinforced parts. You have to check on your specific bar to see if its bar end compatible or not.

and with the EC70's which are bar end compatible, they are only compatible with a types where the bolt is perpendicular to the slot. ANd the ones i want did not have this feature

I'm running bar-ends on my CT2 (former name of the EC70) and yes, you have to be careful with the slot design. This does limit you somewhat in choices. I've had to walk away from certain types of barends because they didn't have a compatible clamp design. When it comes time to replace my handlebar, I will probably go carbon again but I'm going to go with one that has more reinforced sections and can accept a wider variety of barends.

I wouldn't
Why doesn't this surprise me? Voided warranty and increased potential for catastrophic failure for starters, and the fact that you cut off any and all reinforcement the bar had .

My suggestion
http://www.maxmcomponents.com/pages/handlebars.html

WHen i looked, i didnt even notice that the EC70's had any reinforcments at the end too.