Black Ace Carbon Handlebar

The Black Ace weighs 185 to 205g depending on rise. Our lightest alloy bar of the same 785mm width, the Kingpin, is 295 to 315g — so you save roughly 110g. Weight is not the whole story though: unidirectional carbon damps trail buzz in a way alloy does not, which is what most riders actually notice at the end of a long descent.

One clamp size — 31.8mm — and one width, 785mm, in three rises. The 7mm rise runs 2° of upsweep and 5° of backsweep and weighs 185g; the 15mm and 30mm rises both run 5.5° up and 8° back, at 192g and 205g. If your stem is 35mm, this bar will not fit it.

Yes. Alloy gives you warning — it deforms before it fails — and carbon does not, so an overtightened faceplate can crush the clamping area without anything looking wrong from the outside. Use the torque figure printed on your stem's faceplate, tighten the bolts a little at a time in a criss-cross pattern, and keep the gap even top and bottom. If the faceplate has sharp edges or a rough finish, that is worth sorting before it meets carbon.

It can be done, but not the way you would cut an alloy bar. A pipe cutter will crush and delaminate carbon; the job needs a fine-tooth blade meant for composites and a cutting guide, and the dust is an irritant you do not want to breathe. Unless you have done it before, this is one to hand to a shop. And decide before you cut — ride it at full width a few times, because there is no putting it back. Our guide to handlebar widths covers how to work out what suits you.

The bar itself is plain unidirectional carbon, and a set of Funn logo decals in six colours comes in the box so you can match it to the rest of the build — or leave it unbranded. Apply them to a clean, dry bar before the grips and controls go on, so you can see what you are doing.

Take the grips and controls off and go over the whole bar: look for cracks, scuffs that have gone past the surface, and any area that flexes or sounds dull when you tap along it. Pay attention to the clamping area and anywhere a lever or a rock has hit. Carbon can be damaged inside with very little to see on the outside, so if you are not sure after a hard impact, replace it — a handlebar is not the place to find out you were wrong.