Ritchey Design sent over a SuperLogic Carbon Venturemax Handlebar for
test and review at no charge. I am not being paid nor bribed for this
review and I will always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions
throughout. Also, make sure to read the newly revised "Drop Bar Terms Defined" section to better understand this review.
Briefly, I have been sent the 46cm width to test and I have it mounted to my Black Mountain Cycles MCD model as you can see here. This is the first handlebar I have used on one of my own bicycles that has integrated routing. That made for a bit of an interesting installation.
Installation: The MCD has a full-run cable housing set up for both the brakes and the rear derailleur. I did not want to have to replace all the housings just to run the cables through the handlebar. So, I removed the inner wires and decided it would not be a bad idea to replace those. I then was able to do the routing of the front derailleur cable and front brake at my bench. I had to "back-feed" the rear housings through the bar, which ended up being a bit of a juggling act with everything still connected to the bike
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| It might be a job best left to the professionals.... |
In the end, I was successful and everything came together just fine. Again, as I mentioned in my introduction, the hash marks on the bar are a godsend for getting the levers level without driving yourself crazy. The textured areas for the stem and lever clamps is also a nice touch here.
Wrapping the SuperLogic Carbon Venturemax (Can I just shorten this to SLCV?) was no big deal. The "bump" in the extensions is nothing to fear when it comes to wrapping this handlebar. Getting around the bend to the flattened tops will use up more tape, as does the flattened top section, so a box of tape with a good stretch and longer length is advisable. I used some MSW tape which worked fine and is relatively inexpensive.
First Ride Impressions:
Well, I have the aluminum Venturemax and I have been putting in a lot of miles on that handlebar to be able to compare these two together. Ritchey mentioned something about adjusting the ergo-bump in the extensions in their press release on this new SLCV bar and yeah..... I can feel a difference. It hits the palm of my hand a bit differently than the aluminum bar's ergo-bump does.
Now, this is a highly subjective take on this bar, and you may find yourself on the opposite end of this, but I like the ergo-bump on the aluminum bar a bit better for my hands. The SLCV's egro-bump is fine, it is just that the way the aluminum bar fits into my hand is more perfect, again - for my hands.
The flat tops of the new SLCV are really nice. This is a position that works for climbing longer grinds, crusing, and anytime you just need to sit up and relax the back and hands a bit. That bit of backsweep, while not noticeable, is something that will put you more at ease as well, allowing for a bit more relaxed ergonomics there. It's a subtle but effective detail on this handlebar.
One negative aspect of flattened tops is that most accessories will not mount on a flattened cross section bar. You get a tiny amount of space either side of your stem, and that may not work well. See in my image how the light is slightly canted? That is because the base of the light housing is against the stem's "out-front" computer mount and I cannot straighten it out perfectly. Is it good enough? Yeah, probably, but this may be an issue for some accessory items. My GPS has a place to sit, at least!
Okay, but what about how the SLCV rides? Is the juice worth the squeeze? I will say that this bar is more forgiving from a flex standpoint. It definitely has a bit more going on there than the stiffer aluminum bar does. The other big deal is the ergonomics. You cannot do some of these shapes in aluminum, not yet anyway, and so having leveraged carbon fiber to do the things you can do with it yields some neat ergonomic benefits. Things like the extremely flattened tops, sharp transition from tops to ramps, and the ported cable routing.
These things add up and make the SLCV a nicer Venturemax than the aluminum version. Now there is cost. The aluminum Venturemax costs $109.95 at the time of this writing. The SLCV? $299.95. That's quite a difference there. Well, what about the weight differences? The SLCV is 35 grams lighter, on average, depending upon the width of the bar.
So, why not choose the aluminum version? Sure! Why not? If a somewhat heavier, stiffer bar is okay with you, and if the ergonomic differences between the two make no difference to you, then you would be right to go less expensive.
But sometimes marginal gains are just what you may need, and/or appreciate, over the 'not quite so nice' version. Or - Maybe you are one of those folks that think carbon fiber has no place in use for a handlebar. Gotcha! A completely valid choice for you.
So Far... From my saddle, the SLCV is a nicer bar than the aluminum one. I still haven't quite settled into the ergo-bump on the SLCV as being as good a perch as my aluminum Venturemax's is. To that point, I have heard from others after introducing this review that they like the Venturemax and really wish it did not have the ergo-bump thing in the extensions. And I can see their point as well. You do kind of have to make a concerted effort while switching the hand position from resting on the extension to braking so you can get up on the elevated section of the extensions and into the drops.
I guess it isn't as annoying to me, but perhaps Ritchey would consider making a Venturemax sans ergo-bump to satisfy those folks who are not into that kink.
Beyond that? Yeah, there is not much else to say at this point other than this is a nice carbon handlebar with some unique features and feel. I'll be riding more on this handlebar and will return with a final word on it later this Summer. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section and I'll get back to you. Thanks for reading!
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