If I wanted to dodge the question, I'd say I need to see some lifecycle analysis data - I've no idea what the overall emissions of a carbon bar vs aluminum bar is. I'd also ask about how recycle-able alloy bars (or frames) are, realistically. Who's actually doing this? Where are they doing it?
But, let's go with the rough numbers from Trek's ESG report - they did scope 3 emissions for carbon and alloy bikes. Carbon is 3x worse - lets extrapolate their numbers to handlebars, which are ~10% the mass of a light-ish carbon bike frame. Trek estimates handlebars are 4-6% of the CO2 footprint of the completed bicycle (ebikes are ~2x overall CO2 footprint).
And then, let's talk about driving, and realize that carbon vs alloy bars are is as consequential as plastic straws in the climate change debate. I'm not saying we shouldn't all do our part; but I do think that too often this kind of thing gets brought up with cycling, when really, we should be doing everything we can to get more people riding bikes, as its an ENORMOUS component of how we can save our planet.
So, would alloy bars reduce my carbon footprint? Yes, absolutely. Using Trek's data and listed CO2 g/tkm of my truck, each handlebar is worth somewhere around 30km of driving. This rig has 3000km on it.
March 3, 2022, 10:03 a.m. - Cooper Quinn
If I wanted to dodge the question, I'd say I need to see some lifecycle analysis data - I've no idea what the overall emissions of a carbon bar vs aluminum bar is. I'd also ask about how recycle-able alloy bars (or frames) are, realistically. Who's actually doing this? Where are they doing it? But, let's go with the rough numbers from Trek's ESG report - they did scope 3 emissions for carbon and alloy bikes. Carbon is 3x worse - lets extrapolate their numbers to handlebars, which are ~10% the mass of a light-ish carbon bike frame. Trek estimates handlebars are 4-6% of the CO2 footprint of the completed bicycle (ebikes are ~2x overall CO2 footprint). And then, let's talk about driving, and realize that carbon vs alloy bars are is as consequential as plastic straws in the climate change debate. I'm not saying we shouldn't all do our part; but I do think that too often this kind of thing gets brought up with cycling, when really, we should be doing everything we can to get more people riding bikes, as its an ENORMOUS component of how we can save our planet. So, would alloy bars reduce my carbon footprint? Yes, absolutely. Using Trek's data and listed CO2 g/tkm of my truck, each handlebar is worth somewhere around 30km of driving. This rig has 3000km on it. 