Tom D or anyone else hear of the Reynolds Ouzo Pro Road Handlebars?

Triathlon Forum
1

Tom D or anyone else hear of the Reynolds Ouzo Pro Road Handlebars?

They aren’t listed on the reynolds site http://www.reynoldscomposites.com/Products-Accessories.asp

The handlebars listed or the older aluminum version. The Ouzo Pro are carbon I believe.

Did anyone see them at last years Interbike?

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Hmmm. Honestly, I am not familiar with them. I am a fan of round bend bars but not a fan of carbon fiber drop bars. I think aluminum is a better material for drop handlebars.

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Hmmm. Honestly, I am not familiar with them. I am a fan of round bend bars but not a fan of carbon fiber drop bars. I think aluminum is a better material for drop handlebars.

Tom,

I am curious. Why not a fan of carbon bars. I was looking at the FSA air wing bars or the Kestrel bars for my road bike and am interested in your opinion on this. Thanks in advance…

Craig in Alabama

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I bought a set of Kestrel EMS Pro carbon bars and now consider them a waste of money. Most carbon bars won’t accept clip-on aero bars without breaking and the ones that will such as my Kestrel or similiar from Oval are kevlar re-inforced which makes them heavier than a good aluminium bar.

There is no noticeable difference between ride quality. If you want less road shock just use thicker tape.

I’d rather drop a bike with aluminium bars than carbon ones.

Bars are a good example of somewhere that carbon is just a marketing gimmick.

5

Thanks for the heads up on that Cerveloguy. Just saved me some money. I appreciate it… Could you recommend a good lightweight al bar? Thanks…

Craig

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Check it out here Craig. Lots of opinions on this site.

http://roadbikereview.com/controls/handlebars/PLS_2498crx.aspx

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Thanks for the quick response.

Craig

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Best bang for the buck is the Ritchie WCS series bar. Also, check out the Deda 215 road bar (same one the USPS rode last year). Very stiff aluminum and only weights 215g (even lighter than a Kestrel Carbone bar) - still half the cost of about any carbon bar.

If you think carbon road bars are silly - how about the carbon stems?

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Thanks for the reply and info. Much appreciated.

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I am like Tom and like the classic round bend. I would strongly consider going to the 31.8 size stem and bars as I think that trend will stick. If you go with alum bars you can get a stem and still have change over some carbon bars. I like carbon, but I don’t notice any improvement in my carbon bars over the alum ones. I do like the option of clip ons on the road bike too. The new hot stem seems to be the Thompson. Like all their stuff, well built and purdy. G

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There is only one carbon road bar I would have on a road bike, those are Schmolke. They are hella expensive, and probably stiffer than any alu road bar made.

I have had the EMS, and they are not all that good. If you let them slip just one in the stem, your bars are toast.

Best bet is a good, strong alu road bar.

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OK, honestly, you people are certifiable. The only thing worse than a bad carbon bar is a superlight Aluminum bar. I would never use a 200g Alu dropbar, and I would suggest anybody who does to check them over all the time and replace them regularly.

There are some very nice and light carbon dropbars coming out, I don’t really know how much of what I know is confidential but at least two companies that know what they are doing will have 160g dropbars that are very well made. The Reynolds carbon dropbar also looks pretty nice, it has a very nice bend I thought. Not sure if it is available yet or not.

Most of the bars are indeed not meant for clip-ons, but that may not be relevant for you.

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Ritchey makes a nice bar. I went for new bars last year and in the end opted for the Ritchey Biomax II, after a long search for some Deda 215 shallow-drop turned up empty-handed. The shallow drop road bars seem to be very hard to find, that is until I was put onto the Biomax II’s. Apparently this is, Tom Ritchey’s preferred bar on his road bikes. They are reasonably light, very comfortably shaped, have a nice shallow drop and shorter reach, and are only $65.

Fleck

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Amen brother - sounds like we have similar tastes regarding road bars. Yes, the Deda 215 shallow is hard to find (except on the front of my bike)!

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I’ve seen and touched them. Reynolds had a booth at Wildflower over the weekend.

The bars look very nice with some unique features. The most noticeable one is that each drop has a slight D shape so that it is left/right hand specific. So if you put your left hand on the right side it feels a little strange. The top is slightly flattened but made so you can still wrap handlebar tape around it without it being too big and bulky, not like the FSA K-Wing.

There were 2 different models but I only inspected one set. I think that there was a traditional round one and also one with an anatomical bend, both required a 31.8 mm clamp I believed.

They seemed very stiff and also looked nice. Judging by our past experience with Reynolds products, I think that they will be extremely good and also sell well. Not sure when they will start shipping but it shouldn’t be too long.

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Funny, because the Deda 215 shallow drop, is a bar that many of the pro roadies in Europe( including, up until last year, Lance) preferred. I found it odd that finding a shallow drop bar, of almost any kind at retail was such a challenge.

Fleck

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I can recommend the deda’s. They accept clip ons, are light without being stupidly so. Plus if I can’t break 'em they must be good…

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and consider the ITM range as well. a model for every occasion.

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Get back to your revision, young man! That exam is not going to pass itself (not unless you wrote the paper, that is)!

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Funny that bearing in mind I supplied some of the study material ! Would be damn funny if I failed that one…