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Loaded Precision Handle Bar? Help me pick a handle bar I'll keep for years and years

2K views 9 replies 2 participants last post by  crclawn 
#1 ·
Doing upgrades, been eyeballing the Loaded Percision bars. Looking for something flat with sweep. Thinking about anodized color. Does Thomson make a handle bar? Did a quick search and found nothing from Thomson. I will be matching this to thompson elite stem with gold dress up kit. $150 budget, maybe more if worth it. What say u?
 
#4 ·
Pedalphile, what kind of riding do you do? Thats kinda nice that it came stock with that level of bar. Can you post a pic, I would like to see the whole bike. I'm kinda nervous about carbon bars. I am really digging there anodized bars. I know they said they use aircraft grade aluminum. But I really don't know what all the numbers mean when these bike companies give there data.
 
#5 ·
I ride primarily XC with a good amount of trail riding mixed in. I live in NH where the trails tend to be rooty and rocky. I'm about average size at 5'10" and 170lbs, but I do ride pretty hard (when I dabbled in racing I would consistently be a top 5 finisher in Sport class). So, while it's not pushed to extremes, this bar does not have a cushy gig.

Please don't mind the ridiculously long steerer tube - the builder didn't want to cut it until I got a chance to take a few rides and settle on a bar height:

 
#6 ·
Pedalphile, That looks good. What hubs are those? What Reba fork is that? I'm looking for a white fork for my girlfriends Giant. I just ordered a thompson seat post. What are the quaility of bolts that come stock with the Thomson and how easy was it to get the seat rails on/off. I noticed that you went with a Richitey stem over Thomson, why?
 
#7 ·
The wheels and hubs are American Classic. The hubs are fine, but I would not recommend the rims for anything more than light XC - they're very light, but the alloy is quite soft and dents easily, compromising the bead hook. Incidental contact with rocks that most rims would laugh at can end the life of one of these.

The fork is a SID World Cup XX. It's OK, but I'm spoiled by my carbon Lefty. I doubt either of these would be what you're looking to put on your GF's bike, but if you're looking to drop a grand on a fork for her, putting a Lefty on her Giant would make it stand out.

The Thomson post was very nice (I sold it since I had a much lighter carbon post on hand when I got the bike). The bolts were very good quality, making it easy to fine tune the seat angle or remove the seat. In my short time with the Thomson, however, I failed to see what made it any better than the Easton or ControlTech that I use on my bikes.

Now that I think of it, considering all factors including price, I have been very impressed with the Easton carbon parts I have. Aside from the seatpost, I have a Monkeylite riser bar on my trail bike and love it. Check Jenson for their NOS (new, old stock, meaning previous model year new in box)sales on this stuff and you can get it quite cheap.
 
#9 ·
I haven't kept up with the current Lefty offerings, so I don't know if the same inners are available in both alloy and carbon. Weight will indeed be the most significant difference between the carbon and alloy tubes, however.

The three Leftys I have experience with are the 2009 Carbon RLC (Fox inners, 100mm), 2009 Carbon Speed SL (100mm), and 2010 Carbon PBR (140mm). Because the one with the Fox internals offered both compression and rebound damping adjustments with a coil spring, the small bump sensitivity was second to none with that fork. All three models were very, very smooth with no stiction.

When my RLC was replaced with the SL (warranty issue due to incompetent servicing by an LBS), it didn't have as good small bump sensitivity, however, given that it was a full half pound lighter than the RLC, it was an overall win. Do note that even though the others aren't as magical as the RLC, they are still far more sensitive to small bumps than any two-legged fork I've ever tried. The SID World Cup literally feels like a toy commpared to a Lefty, and it's a lot heavier.

Do go ask this question in the C'dale forum if you haven't already. There are some Lefty gurus who can tell you anything you might want to know.
 
#10 ·
I haven't kept up with the current Lefty offerings, so I don't know if the same inners are available in both alloy and carbon. Weight will indeed be the most significant difference between the carbon and alloy tubes, however.

The three Leftys I have experience with are the 2009 Carbon RLC (Fox inners, 100mm), 2009 Carbon Speed SL (100mm), and 2010 Carbon PBR (140mm). Because the one with the Fox internals offered both compression and rebound damping adjustments with a coil spring, the small bump sensitivity was second to none with that fork. All three models were very, very smooth with no stiction.

When my RLC was replaced with the SL (warranty issue due to incompetent servicing by an LBS), it didn't have as good small bump sensitivity, however, given that it was a full half pound lighter than the RLC, it was an overall win. Do note that even though the others aren't as magical as the RLC, they are still far more sensitive to small bumps than any two-legged fork I've ever tried. The SID World Cup literally feels like a toy commpared to a Lefty, and it's a lot heavier.

Do go ask this question in the C'dale forum if you haven't already. There are some Lefty gurus who can tell you anything you might want to know.
Thanks Pedaphile!
 
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