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As soon as we deflection tested the R900 we knew it was a good quality bar.It has enough "give" at lower loading to enable it to damp out a lot of the road buzz, but deflects less at higher loading so it feels like a good stiff bar. Grooves front and rear help with cable routing under the tape, and the shape of the drops is a nice, slightly flattened, traditional curve. Alloy inserts at stem and brake mountings and a Kevlar layer to prevent catastrophic failure in the event of the bar breaking round off a pretty impressive bar.
Top-quality carbon bars for top-quality alloy bar money
These snazzy R900 carbon bars from Oval are an ideal upgrade for your Sunday best bike or a nice bit of lightweight bling if you're building up from scratch. Of course, if you're like me then you'll fit them to a single-speed commuter hack made from pig iron. No, it's not exactly a match made in bike heaven, but the roads round here are rougher than Simon Cowell's tongue with a few cheeky hills thrown in for good measure. If that doesn't show up a handlebar's weaknesses then I don't know what will.Oval say that this is an all carbon bar, but it also has a kevlar layer to eliminate "catastrophic failure" and inserts around the stem and lever areas to reduce stress. Not that you're likely to need them, because this is a very strong bar, despite the very low weight (about 220g for the 42cm that I tested). We don't have fancy deflection testing kit at Road.CC Towers, but you can tell that these narrow gauge bars are extremely stiff. Even honking up some sharp hills didn't induce any flex. Consequently you don't get much of the vibration absorption that carbon is famed for and on poor road surfaces the shock goes right up your arm. It isn't so bad if you ride on the drops, being the part with the most give, but if you spend a lot of time on the hoods or tops, you might want to look elsewhere. On the other hand, sprinters and burly riders will find the lack of flex a great help.These are fairly conventional looking bars with a semi-anatomic bend. The lever clamp area is generous and nicely roughed up for you so you won't have any problems with levers slipping and sliding around, as is the case with some other carbon bars. The one gripe that I did have was with the total lack of guide markers in the centre. The only help you get is the Oval logo, which is not hugely useful. In the end I lined them up by eye. Not terribly hard, but some crosshairs or graduated lines would have been nice.I ran these bars with the matching R900 stem and while that setup totally outclassed my 4130 CroMo test rig it would make a very smart (and stiff) front end on a top notch carbon frame. Incidentally, Oval claim that these are the "only carbon road bar recommended for use with clip-on aero bars" which is worth bearing in mind if you're thinking about giving time-trialling or triathlon a go.Rate the product for quality of construction: 8/10Rate the product for performance: 8/10Rate the product for durability: 8/10Rate the product for weight, if applicable: 8/10Rate the product for comfort, if applicable: 6/10Rate the product for value: 8/10Did you enjoy using the product? YesWould you consider buying the product? Only if I had a bike that really deserved themWould you recommend the product to a friend? Yes, ditto above
Good lightweight, stiff carbon bars. Excellent value but not the most comfortable
The finish oozes quality...we found the oval bar supremely stiff when hammering out of the saddle...unusual degree of comfort makes these a definate favourite at cycling plus
Quality, stiffness and comfort and competitively priced for carbon