The bend itself also has a fairly tight radius, and that's really my only gripe with the Race X Lite Isozone bar: there isn't quite enough room in the drops for my hands. The extra width makes for improved control at speed, which facilitates downhill shenanigans. Our nominal 46mm bar was actually more like 44cm across the brake levers, flaring gradually to 46cm at the ends. The transition from the top-section forward bend into the drop has a fairly sharp radius so you can fine-tune the brake lever position and the angle of the bottom section. When it comes to overall shape, the Race X Lite Isozone has a medium drop and reach - 85mm and 125mm respectively - and a curve to the drop with no 'anatomic' flat section. But when it's time to get your head down and hammer, then once again, you do so with comfier hands. The foam pad in the drops is less noticeable, but that's only because I spend less time there. It's not enough to reduce the feeling of direct contact with bar and bike, but the usual high-frequency vibration you get over coarse road surfaces is gone. Buzz is reduced and your hands are cosseted. With the foam inserts in place and taped up, there's no visual clue that there's anything unusual about this bar, but you definitely notice it on the road. There's a space for a pad along the tops and round the bends to the brake levers, and another in the curve of the drops. Unless you have very big hands, a fatter bar can be fatiguing. That's arguably a better way to improve comfort than, say, using two layers of tape or placing gel inserts under tape on a standard bar. The bar is shaped with indents into which the Isozone foam pads sit, so they provide extra cushioning without increasing the diameter of the bar. But the Race X Lite Isozone bar has a trick up its bar tape. There are 250g aluminium bars for well under £100. That's true of all carbon bars, of course, but nevertheless weight would have to matter to you quite a lot to drop £220 on a carbon bar, if a lower gram count were all it offered. On the surface, this is a conventional carbon fibre bar, insofar as a component that is still fairly uncommon can be seen as 'conventional' it's not like you find carbon bars as standard equipment till you get to fairly spendy bikes.Īnd let's get it out of the way now - this is an expensive handlebar. What's cool about this bar is the Isozone foam inserts on the tops and in the drops that improve comfort.
No way they will be as tough as the ACs, but what feel and speed! Life is short, so I'll replace them more often, but they are a beautiful ride.Īnd if anyone does find an RXL AC replacement equivalent please post about it.but it ain't the GP4000S.At 169g Bontrager's Race X Lite Isozone bar is light, even for a carbon fibre bar, but weight is not the heart of the story here.
Haven't tried any of the new R series from Bontrager (haven't found a good enough price yet). I've tried them on RXL, Dura Ace and Easton Tempest II wheels and in every case they've felt like a lot more work than even Race Lites, let alone RXLs, AC or the old bald ones. The GP4000S's don't have nearly the feel of the Bontys.
But eventually it weakened and I retired both tires (long before they were due, absent the gash).
A big gash in the main tread, not sidewall, that I put a boot patch in and rode another 1500 miles on. I figured no probblem and bombed right into it.as I heard the pssst I looked around and saw 2 other riders fixing their flats. Road work had created about a 4 to 5 cm differential in pavement height, at a right angle. The over confidence they inspired did them, or one of them, in.
And they were tough, I hit many small pot holes and RR tracks at full speed. And I have a set of GP4000S's and they are nothing like the RXL ACs.