I hate bar strikes. No, not the local establishment closing it's doors due to employee negotiation challenges, but the kind that can send you careening off the trail when you try to ride through the space between trees that is more narrow than the width of your bars.
The remedy? Two choices that I saw.. get better at riding with wide bars, or cut my bars. I cut my bars.
Yes you too can cut your carbon bars. Following this straight forward guide from Easton I cut my new Easton carbon riser bars. Actually I sort of loosely followed the instructions.. you may want to follow the official procedure to the letter and avoid the back yard hacking I do.. but you'll still get the general idea from reading this.
These bars are really light which should cause me to double my speed while riding. Maybe triple my speed since I cut off 3 cm or so off each end. I thought of cutting off only one side so I could get the comfort of a wide bar, and the tree clearing and handling of a shorter bar, but it's possible this is a bad idea.
I used a zip tie as the saw guide resulting in only a slight angular cut. I could have achieved a perfectly square cut following the vice mounting instructions in the Easton guide, but sheer laziness thwarted the effort.
I did follow the advice of wearing a dust mask while cutting, sanding, and clean up; breathing tiny carbon dust particles into my lungs wasn't very appealing. Was advised to wear gloves as well.. don't want to get the carbon dust on your fingers.. could get into your eye, nose, or mouth.
I used an 800 grit fine sandpaper to smooth the cut ends and also to remove any burs on the inside of the shifters, brake levers, and stem. I used a torque wrench to tighten all bolts to spec.. important for carbon.
I liked the 58 cm Easton carbon flat bar I had on before for stability, handling, and clearing tight trees, but the straight bar didn't agree with my elbows where I developed some pain after riding. A 40 mm riser put my hands in the right place but I didn't like the 64 cm length, especially after clipping trees with them at Bur Oak and in Brandon (local Manitoba trails with some thread the needle tree spacing). I could have cut my alloy bars, but it made more sense to buy 69 cm carbon bars that cost 5X as much and cut those down.
If you're wondering what kind of grips those are, they are the ESI silicone grips. Only 60 grams for the Chunky version, thicker and more comfy than the Racers Edge thinner and lighter version (50 grams). I contemplated the weight penalty of the extra 10 grams in the Chunky version, but then realized I was delusional with weight-weenie-itis. There's an extra chunky version out now which is probably even more comfy than the Chunky.
These have been the best grips I've ever ridden with. If you're looking to try out some new light weight grips that stay in place and cut vibration, give these a try. They'll slip if not clean when mounted and can start slipping if you bail and get dirt inside them. Keep them clean and and they stay put.. no need for lock ons.
A note on cutting carbon bars.. not all bars are made the same. Some can't be cut at all, some can be cut but only a limited section near the ends, and most can't have bar-ends mounted once cut. I bought the Easton EC70 riser because it came in the 40 mm riser I needed to get my position right, and they could be safely cut to any length (Easton replied to my email asking them about this). I can't use bar ends after the cut though, but haven't used those for a few years and don't miss them.
Ride report:
I do XC riding and racing, and some mild to moderate all mountain. No black diamond trails (those are for more skilful riders than I).
I found handling to be better with the narrow cut. Steering input mistakes were less amplified which worked well on technical courses and when long ride fatigue would set in. I did sacrifice some comfort, but not a lot. It was easy to adapt to and I didn't find any comfort problems, even after 6 hours of trails. For handling I noticed I was more stable and able to hold a better line when going up onto slower speed 1-2ft square edge rock rises, as well as zigzagy rooty rocky stuff. With wider bars I had to contend with a little more front wheel wandering. In speaking to other riders some have found the greater sensitivity to steering input on a wide bar gives them more control, but for me it lead to more overcorrections and unintended steering inputs. This may be due to differences in riding style and ability, and my 20 years of mostly road riding before switching to dirt. My road bars are 440mm, and that's considered wide for a pavement pedaler.
After two years of riding the 600mm cut down bars: The Easton EC70 bars feel great. With the front suspension doing a lot of the shock absorbing work I'm not so sure I feel a large, definitive difference in less vibration, a common benefit attributed to anything carbon. These bars will flex less than stock because I've made them shorter so maybe that has something to do with it. I'd probably have to go back to alloy bars to see if I could feel an increase in ride harshness. I bought these bars because they are light and strong, and having a bit of carbon on your bike isn't a bad thing. Hell, make the whole bike carbon! (There wasn't a carbon version of this bike when I bought it in 2011). Carbon has an ability to cut some vibration, but how much of that is placebo or real I don't know. I didn't notice any shocking difference, although many swear there is.
2014 update:
I did make the whole bike carbon! Have the Giant Anthem Advanced 29er now. Still rockin the same Easton EC70 carbon bars cut down to 600mm. After riding Vancouver BC's famed North Shore for the past three months, I'd like to try adding another 30-60mm in bar width.
Wider bars are more comfortable for the long climbs, but as of now I'm not entirely convinced that ultra wide bars (750, 800+mm) handle better.. It seems to me that with all the hype around ultra wide that it would be easy to be duped by the placebo effect. The bars will certainly feel different, and one will be thinking about all those anecdotal testimonials and company marketing promises.. I think many will simply assign the perceived value of better handling to the different bar feel.
There will be an optimal bar width range that is dependant on rider weight, size, bike set up, experience, and trail type, but I think this variability will be taken care of within 600 to 700mm for most people. Personal preference aside, I'm having a bit of trouble being convinced there is a fact backed measureable difference in lap times, DH times, and yes, Enduro split times, with ultra wide bars. Hard evidence will persuade me though. Watch my blog for a lap time comparo with different width bars later this summer.
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