First of all, I'm curious why carbon bars weigh almost exactly the same as alu bars in the road world. On my mountain bike, the weight difference is more substantial.

I have Bontrager bars on my road bike that are alu and are 220g, comparable carbon bars at 2-3x the cost are 5g, maybe 10g lighter if anything at all.

If I end up going carbon anyway for the comfort (this is going on a cross bike), what are reputable brands for carbon bars? I imagine road bar failure could be one of the most devastating bike failures so I want a really reputable brand. Ritchey? Zipp? Easton? I'm sure ENVE is but at nearly double the cost of these others.

First off, the published weight on bars is all over the place. I've seen actual weight being more than 20-30% different than the published weight. This is also due to the fact some manufacturers weight the 42cm version (pretty standard) of their bars, while other only weight the "short and shallow" 40cm version. So the difference you see may not be the actual difference.

The ones I normally would go for are 3T and Zipp because they fit me well. Ritchey, Easton and ENVE are obviously reputable makers of carbon bars, and so is Thomson and Fizik. One thing to note, for carbon bars, I would be very cognizant of the counterfeit ones on eBay and on the web. They seem to be pretty rampant.

I can't answer you on what brand bars to get but from the reading I've done I just stuck with the alum bar I have so I wouldn't have the fear of a carbon bar snapping on me and creating even more problems.

My cross bike bars weigh over a pound so I can shed quite a bit of weight for $80 with a Bontrager bar, or probably have to spend double that to get the comfort aspect too by going carbon. Decisions...

I have an Easton carbon bar on my mountain bike but carbon bars on mountain bikes have less material and cost a lot less to begin with.

Carbon bars are not going to make you more comfortable. They'll just make you poorer.

my buddy has been using chinese carbon bars with integrated stem for over a year and it hasn't imploded yet. Just saying

I've used FSA, Zipp, Thomson in carbon. I like Deda the best.

Cross does not seem to be the best place for carbon bars. Carbon filters out the small chatter type vibrations mostly, which is not what cross riding is about. 3T Ergonova Pro on my cross bike.

You Will crash a lot in CX racing , go rugged rather than light . heat treated Nitto Dirt Drops Off old MB1's is where that was on. First.

But I recall seeing Easton had a replacement Deal on a model of their carbon bar, IDK its current status.

One of my next builds will have Chinese carbon bars and an integrated stem, although I didn't weigh it before starting assembly.

I think it is a good point that the aluminum bars are already pretty light.

The carbon bars often have features that the aluminum bars don't have such as internal cable routing tubes, and more ergonomic shapes... all of which would add to weight. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Chinese integrated stems are aluminum stems with a carbon wrap.

I'd just go with whatever bars feel the best to you and not worry about what they are made of. I think Specialized makes some pads called Bar Phat is you want some more comfort.

Specialized Bicycle Components

I don't know how high end you want to go. I just picked these up today. I like them as they are wider at the drops than the brake levers and that gives some sprinting room. The stem will be alloy.

I bought some FSA bars which I like fine. It did take me a little while to get used to them since I can feel them flexing when I put weight on them. I guess they are meant to flex. The reason I went from alloy to carbon was due to corrosion on the alloy bars. After 1.5 years of riding the alloy bars I took the bar tape off and was shocked how badly corroded the alloy was. The corrosion was mostly where the shifters were mounted. I think this was mostly due to the amount of sweating I do. Felt the safe thing to do was go carbon.

Usually they are not meant to flex enough to you feel it while riding. I think you should get another bar.

I have 3T Ergonovas (CF) on my CX bike and like them a lot. Very comfortable and the shallow drop and short reach is ideal for a CX bike. IMO the chance of damaging them while CX racing is pretty low. Most races you spend the vast majority of time on grass, hard pack dirt or mud with only short sections on asphalt. Speeds are typically relatively low compared to a road biking and going down on grass or dirt at 15mph is unlikely to cause any damage to a CF handlebar. BTW IMO crashes in CX are not that common.

3T makes a bar specific to CX applications which is a available in wider sizes then their road bars.

I have a set of Bontrager RXL carbon bars on my 11 Madone. They have been great.. However, I just picked up at 14 Domane and they come with the new isozone alloy bars.. Honestly, I cannot tell the difference between the 2. I plan on sticking with the alloy on my new bike.

I think Carbon bars are mostly for bling and weight savings.

Alloy bars are my choice. YMMV. I just got a set of Pro Vibe 7s compact II bars. They don't taper from the stem to the curve to the levers so they are very comfortable if you like to ride on the tops. The curvature is such that no matter where you like your hoods, the reach to the levers from the drops is about the same. It is not rocket science but so few bars are like that. Short reach, long drops (I like them!). I believe they also come in CF, albeit for more money.

In my search for reach and drop such that the drops position would match up with #1 road bike, found Syntace Racelite2 at LeftLane.

Although the discounted price still well over budget - I'd planned on a midrange alu bar, e.g. Deda's Big Piega - why not?

It's a nice bar, no regrets.

It puts me in the target position, and matches the bike's purpose, all day trips and doubles.