The birth of this good idea – a welded titanium trail bike riser bar – was a complicated affair, with designer Brant Richards drawing up the superlight bar for Nukeproof, aided by titanium fabrication experts and manufacturers Lynsky Performance.
The new 3Al/2.5v titanium bar is 710mm wide and weighs just 227g, both stunning stats for a bar that comes with a lifetime guarantee – and proof of Brant’s and Lynsky’s confidence in their respective abilities.
It’s only available in a 31.8mm (oversize) clamp diameter, but as that’s what most modern trail riders use, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
As if a super-wide titanium riser bar hadn’t already strayed quite far enough from the path of normality, Brant designed this one, after consultation with Lynsky’s engineers, in three separate pieces for maximum strength.
A one-piece version would need lower grade (and therefore softer) titanium in order to get the required bends. Do this, and the bar would be too bendy. To make it stiffer you’d need more titanium, but that would make it heavier… all getting away from Brant’s original concept.
So take three pieces of beautiful brushed titanium, two Lynsky-perfect welds and you’re the owner of the most comfortable trail buzz eating riser bar in the world.
We ploughed into as many trail obstacles as possible to try to make the bar do something daft; it never did. It just felt like it was eating the shocks like very deep foam grips might.
On the downside, it does cost nearly twice as much as the next most expensive bar, you’ll either love or loathe the shape on sight, and not everyone will like the amount of ‘give’ over the big hits. But once you’ve got used to the flex, the comfort it gives is hard to live without.