RaceFace Era 35 Handlebar

THE MORE YOU TRIM THE HARSHER THE RIDE.
Arm pump and hand fatigue make riding more challenging, and not in a good way. No one wants to feel a loss of control or a drop in confidence, and we don’t want to cut our riding session short on account of fatigue. Lots of handlebar manufacturers sell compliant bars at 800mm widths. The problem is less than 20% of mountain bikers actually ride their bars at 800mm, often trimming their bars down to fit. When you trim a bar down, it gets stiffer and less compliant. On average, that’s 24% stiffer when trimming a 800 x 20mm bar to 760mm.We wanted to make something better, but we didn’t want rider experience to suffer based on fit and preference. So instead of making one or two bars that worked pretty good for all riders, we made 12. Three width options, three rise options, in both carbon and aluminum.

WHAT MAKES A GREAT HANDLEBAR?
To make the best handlebars on the market, we began a study in 2019 to investigate all the factors that can impact arm and hand fatigue: vertical compliance, natural frequency of materials, and vibration damping. After hundreds of tests, both with world-class athletes and average riders, we came out with clear conclusions.
1. Natural frequency is directly linked to vertical compliance: more compliant = lower frequency, and a better ride feel.
2. Vibration damping features (like foam filled bars) revealed no advantages.
3. Vertical compliance is the most significant, and the most controllable contributor to rider fatigue.
We set out to find the optimal balance of vertical compliance and lateral stiffness (based entirely on rider feedback) and found that 85% of riders preferred one particular sweet spot of vertical compliance. The number (which we can’t reveal, but it’s measured in N/mm) is what we now refer to as the Goldilocks Tune or GL Tune. Anything higher than this number was too stiff, anything lower was too flexible.

• Bar Diameter: 35mm
• Bar Rise: 10mm, 20mm, 40mm (N/A in 760mm), 55mm (N/A in 760mm)
• Bar Width: 760mm (trimmable to 720mm), 780mm (trimmable to 760mm), 800mm (trimmable to 760mm)
• Bend: 8°
• Upward Sweep: 5°
• Material: UD Carbon
• Weight: 220g
• Weight Conditions: 800m width, 40mm rise
• Max. Stem Clamp Width: 60mm (not compatible with wider stems, like Direct Mount stems)
• eMTB Ready: Designed for the abuse of All-Mountain and Enduro riding, even on full-power e-bikes.