Maybe too much much upper body weight on the bars ?, indicative of a bar that's too low ?. Just a thought.

I've just been given a carbon straight bar. It's very light but has some gloss finishing taken off where the old stem fitted. It belonged to a friend who is in the habit of upgrading regularly and had never had any problems with it.

I just can't bring myself to fit it to my bike because of the outside chance it could break. The thought of going downhill, or anywhere else, with no bar scares me.

I wouldn't have any worries if it was a new bar.

I have identically-shaped Zipp bars on my two bikes. One is carbon and the other is alloy. There's no way I could tell the difference between them either on the basis of "feel" or weight.

I just woke up to a better idea. Raise the bars. Sometimes I wonder where my head is. Thanks for all the replies everybody.

A couple decades ago drilled holes in alu handlebars on our Colin Laing tandem for a neater/hidden brake cable run.
Put 56,000 miles on that tandem and those bars. No issues.
Currently have over 35,000 miles on Easton c/f bars on our tandem; like 'em!

Yes, raising the handlebars a tad will get pressure of hands/wrists.

Like they used to say back in the old westerns, "Raise 'em high"! Arthritis in wrists, back, knees and ankles, but love to ride. Have bars set 1 inch above saddle level and as wide a tire I can fit on the bike (28c) and have no real loud complaints.

Tell you what, the difference in ride quality between 23c and 28c is very noticeable. Try wider tires, too.

I encourage the OP to go read the first few posts in the Fitting your Bike forum.

Also have a look at this post:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post12953035

I've found that stretching out more relieves pressure on my hands rather than increasing it. Especially if you are thinking about raising your bars, you should also move them forward, maybe about the same amount as you raise them, but that depends on your exact geometry. Basically you sit on the saddle with your accustomed elbow bend and rotate your arms in the shoulder socket. Your hands will describe an arc. Your new bar location will be along this arc to have the same back angle. Many people find they are more comfortable moving their saddle back a bit and lowering and moving the bars forward, sometimes quite a bit.

Carbon bars may have a profile unobtainable with AL bars which may increase comfort. But you've got to try them to make that call, which may be an expensive proposition. I have one bike with CF bars, but not worth the money to me. Part of the bar is really comfy, others, not so much. My other bikes have AL bars with gel inserts and padded tape. I have big hands, so bigger diameter really helps.

I'm all for going with as big a tire as you can run on your bike. I switched from 23's to 28's on my Scott Addict. They barely fit, but comfort and safety is much improved. I have 32's on my CX road bike.

Biggest potential improvement is bike fit and core strength. If you're not in shape and don't have fit totally dialed in, elbows and wrists can hurt even if you don't have arthritis.