Originally Posted by
Schlafen
Extralite and Darimo make slender carbon stems but they cost ridiculous £££.
Initially I have considered it as well, but, 25.4mm carbon bars are too flexible for a 195lbs rider, so I'm fettling with quill height instead, you're right about that lol. Takes a bit ot trial and error to get the right stem height.
Yeah, crazy prices for considerable and needed engineering effort into a very demanding component. Carbon bars are a nice, "big" visual bang-for-your-buck, IMO, in comparison to stems or other components. I had a 26.0mm carbon bar years ago. It was an older profile, and that was early in my bike exploration (this 620 is one bike in a line of literal dozens before it), thus my knowledge and sensitivities were not what they are now. I believe it did well, but it wasn't as obvious (then) as switching frame materials. This during a period of running 23mm Gatorskins at 110 PSI and extreme saddle to bar drops on much too small frames. There has been considerable learning since then, more happening now, and still more to go.