Euro or Non-Euro brand offerings was once again the dilemma I faced when looking at cockpit components for my dream machine. The one decision I did make early was to stick with a tried & tested alloy system, given I’m a pretty big bloke I felt I needed the extra durability this material offers compared to carbon. When it comes to carbon bars & stems the con’s outweighed the pro’s in this department especially after factoring the following into my decision. There is little to no weight or stiffness advantage with carbon, the instant failure rate of this material on such a critical control element scared me but even more than these was the cost of purchase and subsequent replacement from any falls & crashes resulting in damage not often evident to the naked eye.
In the past I have used Ritchey Pro & currently I am using an all FSA cockpit as below.
Although I have liked both each also have aspects I no longer like. For the Ritchey’s the drop height was O.K but not the Ergo shape as for the FSA’s I love the flattened top section, although it seems this adds a fair bit of weight to bars that have the aero tops. Then there is the drop height & reach which over time has got a bit too much to bear for some unknown reason (maybe I’m just getting old & inflexible).
I decided I would look at the current trend of using a compact style of handlebar & after some research the following choices seemed a good fit for me.
So now which do I choose out of;
Euro Cool brands of 3T & Deda vs Rest of World brands of FSA, Pro, Ritchey & Zipp?
Even though I have made my decision I’ll hold off spilling the beans until they arrive.
However I am interested in which combo you would decide to purchase if this was your project and what reasons factor into the final decision.
