Handlebars can be a touchy subject. These days, everyone’s on the “wider is most definitely better” bandwagon, with even marathon riders being advised to ditch their long stems and narrow bars for setups which sit as close as possible to the steerer and create as much leverage as possible to (man)handle the front wheel.
With so much attention being paid to width, important aspects like sweep and compliance are sometimes ignored.
As someone who regularly rides fairly rough sections of trail, I’m always looking for a slight comfort advantage. As a result, I’ve been experimenting with different bar sweep ratios and wall thicknesses. In recent times, I’ve run a 710mm Truvativ Noir T40 carbon, a 720mm Bontrager RXL carbon, a 740mm Spanzy Oozy LTD alloy, and a 750mm Specialized Mini-XC alloy.
Spank’s Oozy bars have 4deg upsweep and 6deg backsweep, which I found to be too “flat” in that it extends the outside of my palms too far out, resulting in pressure hotspots. Specialized’s Mini-XC is a great shape at 5deg up / 8deg back, but I was curious to see if I could decrease fatigue even more by switching back to carbon. Enter Truvativ’s Jerome Clementz BlackBox bar…
The Clementz (named after racing legend Jerome Clementz who won the maiden Enduro World Series in 2013) checks in with the following statistics:
- Width: 750mm
- Rise: 20mm
- Upsweep: 5deg
- Backsweep: 7deg
- Weight: 240g
Unwrapping it reveals an extremely well constructed piece of carbon, with a beautiful unidirectional finish.
The BlackBox decals are sublimated into the clear coat and give the Clementz an extremely high-quality feel.
From a shape perspective, both the up and back sweep figures are in the middle of the spectrum. From the front, the bar looks perfectly proportioned for some serious action. As has been mentioned, my opinion is that exaggerated width does not benefit most riders. What works for a World Cup downhiller won’t necessarily work for us mere mortals. That being said, it’s a little-known fact that Jared Graves rides with a 740mm bar, and of course this BlackBox model is the exact bar used by Jerome Clementz himself…
Setting up
For setup purposes, alignment markings are well positioned. Like most carbon bars, the Clementz has a knurled surface coating to help with stem grip.
My ride is a Specialized Enduro 29er running a 65mm Spank Oozy Stem. I set it up with a single spacer underneath to get the front end at my preferred height, with the steerer on the RockShox Pike having recently been cut slightly longer than necessary. Nothing fiddly with sliding the Clementz through the stem clamp or fitting Guide clamps over it, it’s gradually shaped and easy to work with.
The finish in the lever clamp area is unfortunately very shiny, so it can be tricky to get some levers to sit solidly enough to prevent them from moving with hard riding. On a carbon bar, levers should be able to rotate in a crash anyway to prevent damage to the bar, so this an observation more than direct criticism. It does make careful setup very important, a factor to take note of.
The finished product…
Pretty cool how the carbon on the Guide RS Carbons coordinates perfectly with the finish on the Clementz.
On the trail
Because of the middle-of-the-road sweep characteristics of the Clementz, most riders will find it immediately comfortable once on the bike. I really liked the 8deg backsweep of the Mini-XC and was wondering whether I’d miss it, but 7deg still feels really good.
From a compliance perspective, it’s a well-known fact that there have been countless forum debates about whether carbon actually offers any vibration damping benefits, or whether it’s all a placebo thing. It’s a tricky debate, seeing as the vibrations typically transmitted from the trail are at such a low frequency that they’re largely absorbed by tyres, then by fork fore/aft flex, then by suspension. In my experience, from a fatigue perspective you’re likely to reap much larger benefits by optimising your setup of those components than by changing to a carbon bar. However… if you’ve already got the rest dialled, I do also believe that carbon will give you a slight bit of extra forgiveness which can be felt at the end of a long ride.
Debates aside, in both initial riding dirt road riding and subsequent extreme hammering through rock gardens, the Clementz feels confidence inspiring. The shape and width is perfectly suited to throwing the bike around, and at no point has it felt like either a pool noodle or too harsh. The fact that it’s so beautifully made and on the heavier end of the carbon bar scale at 240g creates a definite sense of trust which (whether one acknowledges it or not) encourages you to push as hard as possible without thinking about snapping anything.
In summary
The Truvativ Jerome Clementz BlackBox bar is a worthy addition to any cockpit. It’s not cheap (retail is over R2000) but it’s an exceptionally high quality piece of kit which inspires the kind of confidence needed to tackle gnarly terrain at full pace.
can it take bar ends?