We’ve seen a ton of carbon handlebars hit the markets over the years. over time, they have grown wider, stronger and stiffer but most maintain the same basic tubular shape from one end to the other. The new Box X Bars appear to have broken out of that mould with a unique crosssectional shape that is both fashion and function.
We talked to Colin Esquibel, who is the Engineering Product Developer over at Box, about the unique bar design and how it was developed. First off, we wanted to know about the large diameter center area just on either side of where the stem clamps and its unique shape with three fl ats sections and a round. How did Box arrive at that shape and design and how does that benefi t the ride or strength of the bars?
Esquibel responded, “Honestly we wanted to be different out of the gate. We decided to open our own moulds for all our carbon products and with that, we had an opportunity to add some styling to the basic round bar. It opens a lot of opportunities for ride tuning in our future offerings, which we are already working on. By embracing the rigidity of 35 mm and a multishaped bar, our options are wide open for future tunes.”
The other most noticeable shape features found on the bars are the small ‘bubbles’ located on top of where the bars taper from 25.4mm to 35mm. We asked Colin how they were developed and why?
“At this point in time,” Esquibel continues, “the ‘dart’ is a carryover homage to our BMX roots. Our carbon forks and bars have these styling cues. It’s a surface feature, and internally it’s a pure round feature to eliminate stress risers.”
With so many new bars being offered with 35 mm clamp diameters, we were curious to hear what Colin’s thoughts were and why they chose to manufacture their bars in this dimension.
“I think over a decade ago suspension as well as the median riding level was completely different.” Colin continued, “The combination of frame design and construction as well as the suspension integration and tuning of the ride has brought today’s bikes and riding experience to a new level, it also continues to move forward as well. I completely agree that carbon bars allow a completely different feel in rider comfort and related fatigue. With the above mentioned advances though, I think we can concentrate on a very precise cockpit and as direct as possible input into our bikes more now as the frame design, suspension and materials play a greater role in rider control and comfort as they did over a decade ago. We still try and make the bar as balanced as possible in regards to comfort and control, I’m just saying we can push the stiffness and direct feel a bit more now with the tools we have at our disposal. Using the 35 mm interface allows a larger room to work in achieving this goal.”
We recently took possession of a pair of their trail X-Bars plus a matching Cusp 3D-forged stem and Box grips that we look forward to testing this spring. The 100% unidirectional carbon fi ber X Bars are available in one 700 mm-wide XC model, two trail models at 760 mm or 780 mm width and two 800 mm-wide DH models with varying rise and sweep. Our 760 mm wide trail bars weigh 190 grams according to our offi ce scale. Retail prices range from $129 for the XC model to $149 for the DH.
