Here's the list:

--FSA K-Wing Compact
--Winwood Road Scholar
--PRO Stealth EVO

Budget: <$250.00
Size: 44cm

Other similar style (flat top, ergo) carbon bars suggestions gladly welcomed.

I've done my searches, but all seem to be from years past.
Looking for the most up to date information on the bars listed.

This is for my CAAD9.

Stem:
Bontrager XXX Lite OS (except for the PRO of course).

Important:
Comfort, road dampening, stiffness.
I'm heavily leaning towards the FSA K-Wings,
but don't want to "not" consider other options.

I've already gotten my hands on the identical set-up on a friends bike,
(FSA K-Wing, Bonty XXX Stem, Fizik Microtex Tape/Gel, DA7800 Shifters)
however I LOVE how they felt.

I've read that a stem/bar combo would be lighter and stiffer,
but I don't know about comfort. I'm looking towards doing
longer rides now and want something that can anchor me
when I ride aggressively.

______________________________________

FSA K-Wing Compact


Winwood Road Scholar


PRO Stealth EVO


Bontrager XXX Lite OS Stem:

I'd take a look at 3T, plenty of options from their end of the spectrum.

Throw 3T into the mix for sure.

Bad idea.......Use aluminum.

Why?

Have you not heard? Carbon will spontaneously explode!


I love my carbon handlebars. I was having issues with my hands and the flatops really helped. They did take a little getting used to, however when I buy another bike, I plan on buying carbon handlebars for that one as well....

you may want to look at ebay...i was able to get new K-force handle bars for significantly lower.

check out the easton bars on jensonusa.com they have the ec90 slx and ec90 aero for about 100 bux, not to bad for a carbon bar

Check out the ControlTech carbon comp bars as well, very similar to the FSA with a bit of difference in the shaping.

why not pay 1/2 your budget and buy a used 44cm specialized ergo carbon bar from me, never crashed, just too big.

"Important:
Comfort, road dampening, stiffness"


It sounds like what you really want is a carbon frame. This is what will really meet your goals. I would put the $250 into your new carbon frame fund and keep saving slowly.

deda has a pretty great lineup, so does 3t

I bought my Winwood Road Scholars in 2006 for $180.00 off of Ebay. They are great. Haven't had any problems with them at all and the large bars are very comfortable. I think there are several other brands that use the same bars as the Road Scholars and just label them differently, and they cost less.

The transition area leading up to the hoods cause a lot of people problems with the flat top bars. I have the regular K-Wings and the Road Scholars look like they may have a similar problem. I say go with AL bars and vibe wrap/padded tape. I have large hands and the larger effective diameter using padding on my other two bikes is much more comfortable - and provides way better vibration damping than the carbon with regular or no wrap.

+1. Potentially catastrophic if you climb anywhere near aggressively. Look at the photos and tell me how many Tour riders use carbon...

Which one?

The S-Works SL?

Question:

Is there anyone here who's gone from a Carbon Bar to to an Aluminum Bar and that
has actually gotten a better ride as far as comfort and road dampening goes?

Definitely...but the plastic bike I want is way out of my league right now.
So, I can get the components that'll eventually end up on it now
(and take advantage of parts that I want that just happen to be on sale).

Right now, my stock aluminum bar is kicking my arse.

I climb a lot with carbon bars and after four years of use, no problems at all. I like carbon bars because I get a more ergo shapped bar than I can with aluminum. If all I wanted was round bars, then aluminum would be fine.

I went from carbon 3T Ergosum to Alu 3T Ergosum and didn't notice any difference.

Edit: Obligatory

My point is that you really won't achieve your goal of comfort and road dampening to any meaningful degree with carbon bars. I have a carbon frame and an aluminum frame (Cervelo R3 and P2SL aluminum TT bike). You could put every carbon component possible on the aluminum bike (bars, stem seatpost, fork) and it would still be a rattletrap compared to the carbon frame. The CAAD9 is what it is. You would probably do more to to achieve your goals with high quality bike gloves than with an expensive carbon bar.

I do agree with the above comment that the primary advantage of carbon bars are the non-round shapes. For some, this is an advantage.

Are you saying that there is no worthy benefit to swapping out a cheap uncomfortable OEM bar
for a high quality carbon bar that I can transfer to another bike when I'm ready to upgrade?

That I should suffer with my current bar to avoid having to spend money upgrading?

(just picked up a great pair of high quality gloves yesterday and have my
Fizik Bar Tape & Gel ready to be mounted once I have purchased a bar)

Both high quality bars.

Why did you choose to go with the Al over the carbon?

I imagine your frame was carbon?

Because I didn't want to spend the money again...

Makes sense.

Did you crash by any chance or did your bar just fail?