I ran the Range KW edition bars for a while and found them really nice. They have a great feel to them, the compliance is great, and I found the sweep angle to be really good. I ran them after the OneUp carbon bars and found the feel on the Range KW bars to be an improvement. I have a lot of hand issues esp. with the Ulnar nerve in my left hand, I found the bars provided great relief by allowing me to loosen my grip on the bars a bit and relax my wrists more. It feels a bit different at first, but it was an all around improvement for me once I got adjusted to them.
It is worth pointing out that the sweep angle will reduce reach somewhat, so a longer stem may be needed to get the same feel out of a 7-8 degree bar that seems industry standard.
I think the entire industry needs to re-think bar geometry and how we interface with our bars. It seems almost universal that hand pain is experienced by all riders at some point, I think solutions like the Fasst Flexx bars are a good move in the right direction (esp. for those with specific issues), but re-thinking bar geometry across the board would be a good start also. There is a lot of room for innovation in this area right now, the move to 35mm seems to have hindered some of it more than it helped.
The only issue I had with the bars was the tape-like material they use on the outer portion of the bar clamping surface (the reflective material you can see). Over time, it became brittle and flaked off easily. All that reflective surface eventually fell off esp. after installing/removing things mounted to the bars, it would come off in large clumps. I'd like to see something else there, because it seems kindof cheap looking once it starts to fall off.
Dec. 23, 2019, 8:49 a.m. - Shinook
I ran the Range KW edition bars for a while and found them really nice. They have a great feel to them, the compliance is great, and I found the sweep angle to be really good. I ran them after the OneUp carbon bars and found the feel on the Range KW bars to be an improvement. I have a lot of hand issues esp. with the Ulnar nerve in my left hand, I found the bars provided great relief by allowing me to loosen my grip on the bars a bit and relax my wrists more. It feels a bit different at first, but it was an all around improvement for me once I got adjusted to them. It is worth pointing out that the sweep angle will reduce reach somewhat, so a longer stem may be needed to get the same feel out of a 7-8 degree bar that seems industry standard. I think the entire industry needs to re-think bar geometry and how we interface with our bars. It seems almost universal that hand pain is experienced by all riders at some point, I think solutions like the Fasst Flexx bars are a good move in the right direction (esp. for those with specific issues), but re-thinking bar geometry across the board would be a good start also. There is a lot of room for innovation in this area right now, the move to 35mm seems to have hindered some of it more than it helped. The only issue I had with the bars was the tape-like material they use on the outer portion of the bar clamping surface (the reflective material you can see). Over time, it became brittle and flaked off easily. All that reflective surface eventually fell off esp. after installing/removing things mounted to the bars, it would come off in large clumps. I'd like to see something else there, because it seems kindof cheap looking once it starts to fall off.