Price Paid:
$22.00
at Nashbar Mail Order Favorite Ride:
SE Connecticut Bike Setup:
Old Klein Summary:
Lightweight, with what has become an unfashionable recurve anatomical bend (which I happen to like, but which may make your levers seem far,far away when riding on the drops). Strengths:
Competent, inexpensive, unspectacular. These bars, thanks to the high alloy and heat treatment, have a hard surface which minimizes scarring or gouging in a crash (or at least that's my limited experience).
I happen to like the extreme anatomical bend, but even with my large hands I had to shim my levers so that I could reach them from the drops. (Shimano--why aren't the reaches on all your road levers adjustable?) Weaknesses:
I got these to replace a classic Cinelli bar, so I was disappointed to find that the days of highly polished smooth curves have been replaced with crude irregular surfaces covered with some sort of baked-on black paint...but who cares, since the tape will cover it all, anyway? (You might want to cover the prominent etched "Nashbar" logo with electrical tape if you expect to be seen in public.)
Compared to the old Cinelli bar, this is noticeably more flexible. I guess this is inevitable with an aluminum alloy bar--stiffness traded for lightness. Of course, I'm using this with an old-fashioned threaded steerer and forged, internal-expander stem--not the stiffest set-up to begin with. You do get used to the bike kind of wandering a bit in a sprint... Similar Products Used:
Cinelli 
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