I find out daily that I've been wrong about something all along. Every other day, I realize I have been handling a task I have assigned myself incorrectly. Sometimes I get lucky and my misapplication of the process ends me in a sweet spot, where I should have arrived but failed to do so under my own piloting. These happy little accidents guide me in the right direction but often I need to be prodded down the hallway. In this case, the hallway is a shoulder-width beast that requires agility to be guided down and to figure out which room you want to sneak into. Check the doorknobs, push the branches away. I need about 780mm of space for that dance but I am fine with 810mm too. What I am realizing is that the older I get, the more space my achy bones need. Wider bars allow for more leverage on the rider end to keep the front wheel in line. Sure you can be Richie Rude-strong and muscle 750mm bars around on an EDR track, but for most of us, wider bars provide the stability we need when riding fast on rough trails.
Race Face Era Carbon Bars
Race Face has been making carbon stuff for a long time. With technology borrowed from Easton, the BC-based company developed and, for a short period, churned up carbon parts in Canada. The Era model name covers a lineup of products aimed at Enduro and hard trail riding. The idea is that the more comfortable you are holding onto your bars, the longer and harder you can ride.
The catchy term Race Face uses for the Era handlebars is GL or Goldilocks Tune. There is a mythical sweet spot between stiff enough to be precise and soft enough to stay comfortable for each rise and width option. Era bars can be purchased in 9 different width and rise configurations with 6 colours available for each option. (SKU nightmare for shops!)
-10mm Rise in 760, 780 or 800mm
-20mm Rise in 760, 780 or 800mm
-40mm Rise in 760, 780 or 800mm
8° Backsweep, 5° Upsweep, 224 grams (800 x 40mm - verified)
Grey, Stealth, Orange, Red, Blue, Kashmoney
Lifetime warranty for defects or crashes
All this optimization would mean that an 800mm bar cut to 780 versus a 780 bar left full length would have different flex characteristics. The cut bar would be stiffer than the uncut bar at the same length. While Race Face would rather have you buy the correct width bar to begin with, they still provide you with trimming marks.
This is where I noticed some interesting characteristics.
Before the 40mm rise 800mm wide Era bars showed up with a matching Turbine stem, I happily ran my 31.8 clamp aluminum PNW bars at 780mm on an NSB Overlord stem. Or so I thought. The Orbea Rallon these were mounted on ran happily along and the fit was excellent in every way. The "big bike" steered with confidence and a 5'8" guy with long arms did his best to steer the ship down the mountain. I love the PNW bars and the noticeable flex they offer for rough trail comfort. While the bike doesn't feel extremely precise, I don't suffer from arm pump unless the descents are over 10+ continuous minutes long. With the Ergon GE1 Slim grips installed, I cut the PNWs to 780mm because that is a sensible width for a person of my stature. When I took the PNWs off to install the Eras I noticed that I actually did not cut the bars down at all; now I had full 800mm bars plus the 5 or so more millimetres to round up to 810mm. What had I done?
I've had test bikes come through the house with 760mm bars that were fine but the bars on the Orbea always felt spot on. With a rare graze or two against an innocent tree, the 800s did not cause any real trail clearance issues. The feedback and steering precision was excellent too. The flex I liked in the PNW alloy bars was obviously related to running them at their widest setting. Would I still like them if I cut them to 780 or narrower? I first left the ERA bars full width to compare to what I was used to.
The flex and comfort were on par with the alloy PNW bars. The trail chatter was muted and oscillations were controlled throughout the ride. The 40mm Era bars were a carbon replacement to the PNWs I loved and enjoyed. It was time to swap the grips and cut the Eras down to 780mm.
