Bar battle! Race Face Next or Renthal Fatbar?

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    • #211054

      I’m upgrading the cockpit on my Canzo 29er and putting on wider bars (running carbon 650mm now on a 20″ frame and causing shoulder pain).  I’m looking to go around 740mm.

      I like the Race Face Next a lot.  Very sleek, very light, but at 725mm are a little more narrow than I’d like.  Bonus points for matching my black/red color scheme as well.

      But the Renthal Fatbar Lite carbon bars are so damn sexy!!!  They’re a bit wider and a perfect 740mm, no cutting needed, but are about 17 grams heavier than the RF bars.

      Looking for opinions…thank you!!

    • #211075

      I’d say go even wider, unless you have super tight trees that prevent you from doing so. If you don’t like them at their widest, you can always cut them down.

      I’m 6′ tall and I have a variety of bar widths from 740 up to 780. I prefer the feel of the 780s, but I must admit, it’s a lot easier to weave through our intown trails with the 740s.

      You can’t go wrong with either bar, I’ve always been a fan of the RF bar geo, it works for me. The Renthal bars are good too though. I rode the aluminum version on the Orange Five that I tested recently, and I’d put them on my personal bike in a heartbeat if I needed new bars.

      Two Bearings, One Pivot, Zero Problems: Orange Mountain Bikes Five Review

      • #211097

        @Aaron Chamberlain “I’m 6? tall and I have a variety of bar widths from 740 up to 780. I prefer the feel of the 780s, but I must admit, it’s a lot easier to weave through our intown trails with the 740s.”

        I have hard time wrapping my lizard (bear?) brain around this. I’m 5’9″ (when my hairdo looks tight) and ride 800mm bars…everywhere. This includes many of the same places you likely ride around the ATL metro. I am by no means a trials ace nor a killer bike handler (I’m okay, I guess), but I have no troubles getting the big bars around anything. Furthermore, they offer unrivaled control and comfort. The demo bike I’m riding, an Evil The Calling (which is un-freaking-real, BTW) has Race Face SixC bars. Yeah, carbon and huge. They feel great and will definitely grace my new rig. I never really thought much of anyone’s statements on carbon’s frequency damping over washboard sections, but I swear the Race Face’s really were mad comfy.

        To the OP, I’m sure the Renthals will be an improvement over your previous bars, but I think it would behoove you to sample some even bigger bars. The whole “I don’t wanna ride wider bars because I’ll get stuck between trees” argument is bs IMHO.

      • #211159

        Yo @RaymondEpstein let’s ride sometime and I’ll show you what I’m talking about! I’m definitely not referring to eh, um, err, “established” trail systems. The trails that are closest to my house are super tight and windy with frickin’ pine trees everywhere. You can make it through with 780-800, but it is much, much easier with something slightly narrower ~750.

        Granted this is an extreme case and in general I agree with you that wider is best! Any legitimate trail system is going to have room for 800s (or wider). You won’t see me taking a hacksaw to any of my bars.

      • #211229

        @Aaron Chamberlain: “Yo @RaymondEpstein let’s ride sometime and I’ll show you what I’m talking about! I’m definitely not referring to eh, um, err, “established” trail systems. The trails that are closest to my house are super tight and windy with frickin’ pine trees everywhere. You can make it through with 780-800, but it is much, much easier with something slightly narrower ~750.

        Granted this is an extreme case and in general I agree with you that wider is best! Any legitimate trail system is going to have room for 800s (or wider). You won’t see me taking a hacksaw to any of my bars.”

        I’m guessing you might be referring to some of that in town Faster Mustache mayhem and the stuff that is often WheelHopper fodder. I have done those, but it’s been about a year and half since. At that point I was running 787mm Race Face Atlas bars and made everything. If am way off base let me know. Personally, I found those rides okay at best as the road sections were laborious and the unimproved, muddy, garbage strewn trails just weren’t that much fun. That said, sure…hit me up. I am going to hope that you don’t have some version of “Deliverance” to reenact with mountain bikes though.

        My home base ride is Big Creek as it is very close and I can even ride to it. It is also my favorite having a rougher track than anything else around outside of heading up to Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Dahlonega and beyond. These days as a suburban schmuck, I mostly stay on the top side of town riding the various locales and making my way further north and to ride Pisgah (Brevard, DuPont, Old Fort, —dying to go back to spend a day at Wilson’s [SICK!] etc.) as well as Chattanooga (Raccoon, Ocoee) at least 3-4x a year.

      • #211296

        Yeah Raymond, it sounds like you’ve probably ridden some of the stuff I had in mind. Again, I didn’t say it’s impossible to make it through, just the relatively narrower bars make it much easier. For instance, I just switched bars on my hardtail from 787 to 750. I can carry a lot more speed through certain turns with the narrower bars.

    • #211077

      Just curious where you saw that the Race Face Next 35 bars are 725mm? I recently upgraded to the Next bars and Atlas stem, and the bars are 760mm. I decided to go with the 20mm riser and carbon and I’m really happy with the Race Face products! And the added bonus of Race Face offering different colors helped my opinion slightly!

    • #211084

      <p style=”text-align: center;”>Ah that makes sense, thanks Aaron</p>

    • #211085

      I got the RF Atlas 785 mm and cut it down to 760 mm, which decreases the weight of that’s your concern.   Not sure what they weigh now.  Low riser, 1.5″, and they are fantastic.      Just wide enough for my comfort.

      Thought about Renthals but decided on my Canadian company instead.

    • #211092

      Renthal Fat Bar Lite 740mm w/ 20mm rise has been ordered.  I couldn’t resist the sexy-ness!  Paired with Renthal Apex 60mm stem, can’t wait to ride!!

    • #211098

      I’ve tried 780mm and busted my knuckles on every tree I passed (okay….maybe not EVERY tree) and felt the need to slow WAY down in every tight section after getting yolked a few times.  I’m also a beginner and that would prob improve with saddle time, but found 740mm to be most comfortable for now.

    • #211116

      molmbar17, let us know how you like the Fatbar.  I love mine.  Fit and geo are great.  I’m running mine at 790mm.  I’m 5’11.5″, but my Ibis HD TT measurement is a bit short and I mostly ride in CO and Mongolia where the trees are not too tight. So I have no problem with wider bars.  17 grams difference … … you are a gram counter. =)  Glad you went with the RFB’s good looks.  Gotta keep that bike lookin’ good. =)

    • #211374

      @Aaron Chamberlain “Yeah Raymond, it sounds like you’ve probably ridden some of the stuff I had in mind. Again, I didn’t say it’s impossible to make it through, just the relatively narrower bars make it much easier. For instance, I just switched bars on my hardtail from 787 to 750. I can carry a lot more speed through certain turns with the narrower bars.”

      I figured as much as I used to live in Candler & Inman Park way back when I was still ITP and thought I was cool. I used to do quite a bit of bushwacking and riding through small park segments (Lullwater, Waterworks, etc) all around Emory back in the day. I also I have hit many of those “trails” down south of East Atlanta which include all of the mud holes back off Moreland south of 20. A beater hard tail would my ride of choice for that stuff if I was a local.

      750mm bars seem to be the size of choice for some of the EWS pros for similar reasons. In my mind I feel like I ride like those guys, but reality is quite different. Thus for now I’ll keep my giant bars on for my slow ass self. Just ordered some Chromag BZA 800’s for my new whip today in fact.

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