To the rescue!
I'd look hard at the Oval bars as well. As you may or may not know, Oval & HED had a relationship that sort of fell apart in the early stages. Anyway, the key differences between the Oval bars and the HED bars.
1) Adustability of extensions -- the HED ones are minimally adjustable as they attach into the clamp. The Oval ones use a traditional "ring" clamp meaning you can adjust the bars as much as you want fore/aft. This is nice since you don't have to worry about cutting your s-bends too short. The pad->bar drop is much greater because of this on the Ovals (perhaps a factor if you are using straight extensions), so this is something to consider. If you are really dialed in on your position, then the adjustability factor is not as important since you'll cut once and forget it. If you can try both and see which is more comfy on your wrists, that'd be ideal.
2) adjustability of pads -- the Oval pads have rotational adjustments (you can rotate the pads so that they cup your forearm differently) and more fore/aft options. The HED ones have only two positions. If you are really sensitive to feel, this may be an advantage for the Ovals.
3) quality of pads -- the HED pads are not very comfy. The Oval ones are much nicer. That being said, it is easy to get some different pads and stick them on your HED bars.
The one downside to both of these bars is that they are quite flexible. They are not good for serious descending or technical riding. They are also prone to cosmetic cracking around the clamping joint. This may make you very uncomfortable to see this little spider web cracks. Especially since there have been reports of failure at this joint.
Also, if you like to run them at a slight incline, as many people do, for comfort, you are now exposing more surface area to the wind as the extensions can not be adjusted independently of the base bar.
They are, however, very light and quite aero since the integration makes things a bit cleaner.
If I were you, though, I'd wait. Lots of new products were shown at Interbike, and with the offseason approaching, I'd wait to see what is available next spring. Easton has some new stuff. The Zipp bars look pretty cool. Bontrager's bars may finally hit the streets in a "real" version like DeBoom rides.
I like my HED bars, but I don't love them. I certainly don't think they are the best bar on the market, but I'm not sure there is anything better. I think you ride what is comfortable. None of the top bars is going to win or cost you a race.
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