Forge and Bond is at it again with a fresh product offering using its famous high-tech. eco friendly FUSIONFIBER carbon material. Currently the bar is only offered in one option. The Forge and Bond 25 MTN Bar is an 800 mm wide bar with 25 mm rise, 7.5 degrees of backsweep, 5 degrees upsweep, and a 35 mm clamp diameter. I have been testing this bar mounted to my Commencal Meta V5 where I typically have a bar with a bit more rise at 35-38 mm. The bar I've been spending the most time on has been the PNW Loam Carbon Handlebar. This bar has a 38 mm rise, 10 mm back sweep and 5 mm of up sweep. I initially thought 25 mm rise on the F + B bar would be too low, but it feels really good actually. I think having less back sweep has a bit to do with that. With my wide shoulders and longer arms having that much less back sweep gives me a bit more room as far as reach goes, and the lower rise really helps keep the front of the bike weighted on steeper climbs, giving me more control and traction overall. It feels just right on the descents, even on steeper stuff where I thought it might feel like I am going over the bars a bit. Instead I have a ton of control and it keeps my front end weighted just enough to give me good traction on technical bits and in the corners. It's also really comfortable on short or longer rides.
One of the biggest benefits Forge and Bond is selling on this bar is the comfort that comes through vibration damping. Although it may be hard to tell, I do notice these bars to be a bit damper than the PNW Loam bars I have been riding over the past few months. Where you really start to notice the vibration damping is over an entire ride. My hands and arms feel less fatigued over the length of a ride and there is no harshness upon smashing into rocks and roots at hight speed. If you played little league baseball and you remember that sting in your hands when the ball would hit the wrong spot on your aluminum bat, that is the harshness I am referring to. Ya, you don't feel that with these. The F + B bars still feel super responsive and control is direct and reactive to my steering input and pushing into the bike while pre-loading and cornering too. Sometimes when products have built in vibration damping they can feel dead or muted. That is definitely not the case with these.
The Forge and Bond 25 MTN bars are also extremely durable. They test their bars by attaching 8.5k weights to each end of the bars and drop test them from 12 inches on up until failure. The F+B 25 MTN Bar made with FUSIONFIBER® Carbon pass testing up to 44 inches, for reference most epoxy carbon bars see failure between 30-35 inches. Click the image below to watch it go boing boing.
Knowing that my bars aren't going to break and send my face into the top of my stem shattering my teeth and spreading them into the dirt is a plus for me.
I've put these through a few good rides so far on the singletrack trails in American Fork Canyon, which is a great testing ground for almost any bike component. If you have done any riding up there, you will know those trails are the opposite of smooth like unto a sidewalk. Lots of rocks, roots, loose dirt and steep ups and downs are the name of the game there. I am looking forward to putting some more miles on these. So far so good. Hit the link to buy some of your own. They are currently on sale too.
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