Ragley Bikes Carnegie’s Bar: Midterm
October 1st, 2009 by Guitar TedInterbike interrupted this review a bit. Oh well! ha ha! At any rate, here are my impressions so far on this bar with the bendy goodness. The Ragley Carnegie’s Bar particulars can be found here, if you want to find out more.
I took the Carnegie’s Bar, mounted to a bicycle, of course!- to a local trail I know well that opens with a gradual climb, and then has a nice technical downhill that includes a couple of really tight switchbacks and nice whoop-de-doos through a couple of ravines. If my handle bar isn’t working for me, this is where I will find out, and find out quickly. Well, I was rather taken with how well the bar worked for me, and how it transformed the way I handled the bike it was on.
The bar set up ended up putting my hands about an inch further back towards the center line of the steer tube than I had been with the previous riser bar. This obviously shifted my weight bias on the bike a bit, and apparently that is what this bike needed, because I felt the bike came alive with this set up. But be that as it may, it is true that almost any bar could have achieved this with the correct stem choice. Ahh…….but there is more to this.
The Carnegie’s Bar has sweep, which alters the relationship of your upper body, arms, wrists, and hands as you steer the bike. The combination of the weight bias shift and the different ergonomics now in place allowed me to push into the bar to counter steer more effectively and also to push into the bars as I felt necessary to weight the front wheel properly throughout the corner. I was more comfortable, felt more in control, and therefore I went faster than I had ever gone through certain sections of this opening salvo of trail. In fact, I smacked my left hand so hard on a tree because of the increased speed I thought I may have broken a bone for a moment or two. However, it was just a nasty bruise. No real harm done!
Climbing was a worry, as I thought the rearward hand position may adversely affect steep climbing, but it wasn’t an issue. I was still able to weight the front end enough that technical climbs were done with no drama. Out of the saddle, I liked the Carnegie’s Bar better, as the sweep really helps one to leverage the bar to generate good power on the pedals. I find this is true of most any bar with more than 20 degrees sweep.
Okay so far. I am really liking the Carnegie’s Bar. It is stiff enough, has enough room to place my controls as I like them, and enhances my riding on my Big Mama full suspension 29″er. I’ll keep hammering on them for a bit, and then report back with a final few thoughts, but as of now, all I can say is, “Brant! Get these distributed State side, fer cryin’ out loud!
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Brant, we know yer listening- you always are when it’s your product in the spotlight. When can I buy one of these without paying for shipping and lousy currency exchange from the UK? I want, bad. It’s for my On-One, if that helps…
We’re discussing things with some people. Always the best way. I’ll be back to you with a plan shortly.
GT, how does it compare to a Mary in terms of feel? Does it affect rearward reach more or less than a Mary? (Brant I suppose could answer this as well)
I like my steel Mary, but this bar is lighter and I would be inclined to try one.
@Dave: The Carnegie’s has less sweep, less forward wiggle, so the net change is about the same as what a Mary Bar would have, with a bit different angle to the hands than what the Mary would put you in.
A plus to the Carnegie’s is that the center section isn’t at that wonky Mary angle which allows for things like lights and cyclo-computers to be mounted at more “normal” angles.
Overall, I like the feel of the Carnegie’s in technical situations better. The sweep angle is less severe than on a Mary, and this is an improvement, hitting a sweet spot, if you will, between comfort and control. I’m liking this bar better.
In contrast, I has a race with super twisty singletrack, riding my narrow 50º trekking bars, where these seemed to perform great. The great back sweep made for great stem slip though.
Anything more than little sweep is great.
I’m sure you can purchase these bars at chainreactioncycles.com for $55.45 U.S.
I’ve run Mungos, Midges, Mary’s, Joneses, BOS Flowings and several conventional riser bars. This is by far the most comfortable bar (alt- or otherwise) I’ve run. Ergons are a good fit and work well with the bar. Going from a flat Flowing, I need to drop a spacer or two under the stem. But, that is as close to criticism as I can muster. I ordered from Chain Reaction and shipped to the states. Be patient on the delivery.
On a related topic Surly now has their take on a multi position mtb bar, the Open Bar so it would be interesting to see how that stacks up to similar bars out on the market.
Waiting with anticipation for G.T.’s review.
Brant, you have a winner here. Let’s say I’ll be jealous of everyone in the states who buys this after you get a good distribution deal. It was the perfect upgrade to my Mary bar – stiffer, reliable, slight tweak to angle but made up for by the width.
Is ordering from Chain Reaction such a problem? Which is your preferred US mail order outlet? We are not looking for US distribution at this time, but is there a stand-out shop we could talk to?
Universal Cycles in Portland, OR. They rock. Great customer service and pricing.
Brant/GT, have just ordered some from Chain Reaction (im based in South Africa) and was wondering if you can run them ‘upside down’ like some guys do with the mary? I am currently running a fleegle pro and already have no spacers below my stem on my niner SIR size S.
PLease help?
Of course, yes, you can do that.
I have ordered, and got coming in a couple of months, a “flipped” set – ie: this bar with the graphics the other way up, and also a “flat” set – with no rise.
Sounds grand!!! Awesome products and insight as always Brant. Looking forward to them and will just have to order some flat ones in a couple of months if needed! Have you secured an agent in SA yet?
We are, globally, looking at dealer direct, rather than a local distributor.
Any interested dealers should contact us on trade@ragleybikes.com
There’s another development for Carnegies in progress at the moment too. But I’ll let you guess on that.
White, red blue and green!!?!? or maybe that woven stuff??