pbass

Question, when talking aluminum bars, does lighter always translate into "better" ride characteristics? For example, I'm pretty happy with the stock bar on my Kona Unit, but let's say I swap them out for something like a Renthal Fatbar Lite (NOT the Carbon variety) to shave a little weight. They'll be lighter for sure, but they might also be stiffer I gather. Would that end up resulting in a harsher ride on this rigid beast?

skol

I doubt you'll notice much difference from one alum. bar to the next but if you change width, sweep etc you will notice a difference in how the bike handles and even somewhat on ride quality. I like wider bars as it seems to take some of the harshness out of the ride and for leverage.. If you like the bars maybe shave weight in places what will have more impact like tires, wheels etc. even rotors. Carbon seatpost perhaps if you don't have already.

pbass

Thanks. Yeah, I might want to go with slightly less rise, but all in all, I like the feel of these bars, width, sweep, etc. I guess it would make more sense to upgrade to a carbon bar if anything. Was just curious if a lighter more "high end" alum bar of similar spec would offer any noticeable benefits.

Pendergast

Going tubeless has priority over any other things I may change with my Unit. Have you done that yet? I'll probably wait until Spring though because I'm not much of a cold weather cyclist.

pbass

I have not. I'm sure I will try it soon. I don't feel terribly pressed though, because as it is, I rarely ever flat (knock in wood), and I already run really low air pressure, around 18 front, 19 rear. I only weigh about 134-6 lbs which is a factor I guess. I know there's other considerations of course.

Mine is stock too except for VP Vice pedals (love 'em) and Renthal Kevlar locking grips I just got for Xmas (odd color, but I love how they feel).

A friend of mine will sell me an alum Fatbar Lite cheap if I'm interested - would be a cheap way to experiment with another upgrade - but if it's not a really meaningful change I will likely save the dough to use towards something else (carbon bar, seat post, or even a carbon fork or new wheels, but those are way out of the budget for a while).

dminor 

Fatbar Lite is an excellent bar and a worthy upgrade. Going tubeless is the illusion of achieving something.

Pendergast

I have a box full of tubes with holes in them that I've been putting off patching for way too long and have puncture flatted 3 out of my last 5 rides. Nothing illusory about that.

Doesn't sound like the OP would benefit much from tubeless in that regard though.

pbass

I guess it's one of the benefits of being a scrawny featherweight! Actually, I've been told that depending on HOW I went tubeless, it could actually add weight. But that's a whole 'nuther thread.

We'll see about the bar swap. Just feeling like playing around with the rig a little, but I'm on a low budget. And, ultimately I like how it feels now, except I think losing a little weight wouldn't suck.

pbass

Just thought I'd pass this on if anyone finds it informative - I passed on the Fatbar Lite I was being offered because it turns out the stock Kona bar is lighter. I couldn't find the Kona specs anywhere so I emailed them and they got back to me promptly. The stock bar comes in at 246g, while the Fatbar Lite is 269g. The Fatbar IS a hair wider, but I'm fine w the Kona bar width.

Also FWIW the other specs on the stock bar are: 5 degree backsweep and 5 degree upsweep, a rise of 19mm and a width of 730

dminor 

You almost glossed over the most important specs of a bar - - far more important than a few grams of weight - - the sweeps. Hope you like them; I prefer a more standard backsweep myself.

pbass

I hear ya - I do like the sweep of the Kona bar. In fact, I've never had a bike seem to just fit me so well and feel right, right off the shop floor. So, in this case, it was just about the fact that my buddy would let me have the Fatbar super cheap, and if it was lighter, then . . . .
I'll save the dough towards something else!

ColinL

Normally backsweep is in the 8-9 degree range. So I think Doug was saying that the Kona bar was a bit flat.

I'm currently using an Answer Protaper carbon AM 720 flatbar. In googling for it, I saw it reDONKulously cheap on pricepoint: Answer ProTAPER 720 XC AM Flat Carbon Bar | Answer

This is the older version that is truly flat as you can see in the pic. The current-year model actually has 4 degrees upsweep, which I wouldn't want. Upsweep seems to hurt the bones in my hand, at the ring & pinky finger. (Took me a long time to diagnose that, and try a flat bar, but Zephyr suggested a few things last year.) Anyway, it has 8 degrees of backsweep which is good.

pbass

I was actually surprised at the backsweep spec on Kona - having no way to measure it, and being a noob, I thought it was much . . . .sweepier! Look at this pic, shot pretty much straight down over the bar. Far from flat!