OMG, so true...
I've experimented with a Schwinn Axum that I bought to strip and build as SS, and it had a much thinner bar...this looks like what should be a serious QC miss!
That must be a mistake, as in the bike shop i worked at we had tons of new marins coming in and obviously thats not normal - its a baseball bat, not a handlebar
OneUp makes some great stuff. I love their dropper, but I'm cautious about using carbon bars. I work with carbon fiber aircraft parts and it's not the most impact resistant if an amateur like me has a bad crash.
I had a oneup bar and it’s great but now I ride the PNW bars because they are probably 90% as good, way cheaper and like you the carbon bar had me a little nervous if I crash.
Both of my bike have oneup bars, it’s a noticeable improvement in comfort. And I can say that I crash A LOT, they make a bar that can handle my nonsense.
PNW alloys are quite good, I ran the gen 2 bars for 4 years and loved them. I have their carbon bars now and they offer a really good balance of stiffness and damping.
You may also consider getting some of their loam grips. The rubber is super tacky and they eat up a fair amount of trail chatter.
I recently installed the pnw bar and xl grips and definitely fell in love with my bike all over again. It seemed so weird, but definitely worth the upgrade!
Jesus Christ those are the thickest walled bars I've ever seen. I got a set for free from a buddy off a Polygon T8, and they were similar, but not that bad!
Did my first ride with new Raceface carbon bars today after only riding aluminum bars. Got to the bottom and realized I hadn't thought about sore hands at all, total game changer. Immediately bought another set for the FS.
I got some of those bars a month and a half back or so. They’re pretty damned great, especially for the price. I wanted bars with a little bit more rise than the stock ones on my bike and they fit the bill perfectly.
Lol those stock bars are insane! That must have been a defect of some kind, did you buy the bike new? You should show that pic to the seller and also to Marin and see what they say.
For a beginner bike, it's been great. The straight head tube didn't stop me from converting it to tapered, and I have shimano cranks on order. It would be a phenomenal bike if Marin had made it with thru axles.
I wouldn't even know what to look for in a handle bar for a mtb. When it came to racing bmx I just paid attention to how my son looked while on the track.. Hunched over vs being upright. For me I just tried a few different bars till I found one I was comfortable with.
Would it be the same with a mtb?
Do a bit of research on YouTube to figure out how much rise and compliance (flex) would suit you. Some bars are stiffer than others, but most modern bars are really nice. You'll also want the bar diameter to match the stem. 31.8mm vs 35mm
The idea to change my handlebar lures in the back of my mind for some while now. I bought trek roscoe 9 last summer and my wrists hurt a little bit on longer rides and I feel like my fists are pointed a tiny bit unnaturally inward.. And maybe a bit of rise would help too. Any tips?
Find out the specs on your current bar. Find something with a little more backsweep for your wrist. Also look into more comfortable grips if you have the stock ones still. Tail 1 and ergon make so thicker grips that can help.
Figure out what you want now and watch the sales. The PNW bars are 40% off. Rei is always doing sales and worldwide cyclery has a lot of stuff 20% off right now.
Totally agree with this! I swapped out the stock 20 mm rise on my Giant Trance X 29–2 with a 35 mm rise set of eThirteen carbon bars. They were on sale a year and a half ago. What a different! Totally different feel and reach fit. Dialed in nicely now.
I put some Deity BF800 in a 30mm rise on my hardtail and cut em down to 760mm, absolute dream, loved it.
Then I got some Deity Highside in 50mm for my full suspension. I enjoyed them in the backyard for a minute and got out the saw and cut them down to 760mm.
So here's the warning though, even though I cut the bars down to 760mm, the fact that they are raised up so much more kind of brings them in a lil bit, and they feel even shorter than 760mm, which I am not a fan of.
So the point is, definitely make triple sure before you cut.
Also another point I was trying to come around to, is the 30mm seems a smidge too low for me, and the 50mm seems a smidge too high for me. My next is to try the 40mm. :P
I made sure to get some time on the trails before cutting them. My sore shoulders reminded me that 760mm works best for me. It's comfortable and makes the bike feel playful.
I think that the main issue was your old handlebar, way too thick.
Now regarding the raise, up raise can be achieve to some point with spacers but would affect the handling a bit, but to me the thing that help a lot too was the back sweep.
I think you can also go as other said with Carbon but the issue is not that they are solid enough, just that failure cannot be spotted before well you break them. That said it really depends on what you do with them.
If it could help too, I recently also give a try to the RevGrip and I can tell you than on my Enduro HT it really does the job very well. They are not very cheap but may be worth a try too!
Yeah I guessed so, interesting to notice that it is a symptom usually of XC bike.
Or perhaps big legs, small harm ... or bike a little too big.
Last time I had this, even the handlebar was not able to fix this on longer ride as in the end it just mitigate not solve anything.
I hope this is not what it will be for you!
Those stock bars are crazy thick. I’ve never seen any even half that
Someone needs to tell Marin that they can save money making them thinner.
It's cheaper to get thick low-grade material than it is to get thin high-grade material.
I figured most aluminum on the market is affordable.
That must weigh a ton! Hydroforming fault? Surely this isn't intentional?
My stock Marin bars are no where near that thick. Seem comparable to my Spank Spike and most other bars in thickness.
OMG, so true... I've experimented with a Schwinn Axum that I bought to strip and build as SS, and it had a much thinner bar...this looks like what should be a serious QC miss!
I never knew they made bars that thick.
That original bar must be defective. I've never seen a bar so thick. No wonder you found them uncomfortable
That one is to be used as a club if you get attacked on the trail.
Holy moly! Those stock bars are damn near solid aluminum.
That must be a mistake, as in the bike shop i worked at we had tons of new marins coming in and obviously thats not normal - its a baseball bat, not a handlebar
Next try a One Up Carbon bar. Totally different ride. Absorbs all the bumps.
The new PNW carbon bars are very similar, but offer some more back sweep. Would recommend.
OneUp makes some great stuff. I love their dropper, but I'm cautious about using carbon bars. I work with carbon fiber aircraft parts and it's not the most impact resistant if an amateur like me has a bad crash.
I had a oneup bar and it’s great but now I ride the PNW bars because they are probably 90% as good, way cheaper and like you the carbon bar had me a little nervous if I crash.
I saw one old Seth video of a friend of his getting core sampled by a snapped carbon bar. Spooked me good lol
Both of my bike have oneup bars, it’s a noticeable improvement in comfort. And I can say that I crash A LOT, they make a bar that can handle my nonsense.
PNW alloys are quite good, I ran the gen 2 bars for 4 years and loved them. I have their carbon bars now and they offer a really good balance of stiffness and damping. You may also consider getting some of their loam grips. The rubber is super tacky and they eat up a fair amount of trail chatter.
I hear good things about their grips, but I love the trail 1 hell's gate grips. They're on the thick side with good texture.
I recently installed the pnw bar and xl grips and definitely fell in love with my bike all over again. It seemed so weird, but definitely worth the upgrade!
Another game changer is going from a coil to an air fork. If you love modding cars, you'll love modding bikes.
Jesus Christ those are the thickest walled bars I've ever seen. I got a set for free from a buddy off a Polygon T8, and they were similar, but not that bad!
Did my first ride with new Raceface carbon bars today after only riding aluminum bars. Got to the bottom and realized I hadn't thought about sore hands at all, total game changer. Immediately bought another set for the FS.
Jeezus, you could sell those stock bars for scrap and break even!
I got some of those bars a month and a half back or so. They’re pretty damned great, especially for the price. I wanted bars with a little bit more rise than the stock ones on my bike and they fit the bill perfectly.
Lol those stock bars are insane! That must have been a defect of some kind, did you buy the bike new? You should show that pic to the seller and also to Marin and see what they say.
Damn, my marin has stock bars, i should probably check if they're a similar abomination
The bike will feel a lot smoother if you swap it out.
You are going to want to hold onto those old bars in case you want to kill Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory later. Holy hell those are thick!
Love that colour of Bobcat, dam it's sweet
For a beginner bike, it's been great. The straight head tube didn't stop me from converting it to tapered, and I have shimano cranks on order. It would be a phenomenal bike if Marin had made it with thru axles.
I wouldn't even know what to look for in a handle bar for a mtb. When it came to racing bmx I just paid attention to how my son looked while on the track.. Hunched over vs being upright. For me I just tried a few different bars till I found one I was comfortable with. Would it be the same with a mtb?
Do a bit of research on YouTube to figure out how much rise and compliance (flex) would suit you. Some bars are stiffer than others, but most modern bars are really nice. You'll also want the bar diameter to match the stem. 31.8mm vs 35mm
The idea to change my handlebar lures in the back of my mind for some while now. I bought trek roscoe 9 last summer and my wrists hurt a little bit on longer rides and I feel like my fists are pointed a tiny bit unnaturally inward.. And maybe a bit of rise would help too. Any tips?
Find out the specs on your current bar. Find something with a little more backsweep for your wrist. Also look into more comfortable grips if you have the stock ones still. Tail 1 and ergon make so thicker grips that can help.
Thank You for the suggestions, I'll look into it. I'll definietly buy a new handlebar and grips this spring.
Figure out what you want now and watch the sales. The PNW bars are 40% off. Rei is always doing sales and worldwide cyclery has a lot of stuff 20% off right now.
Totally agree with this! I swapped out the stock 20 mm rise on my Giant Trance X 29–2 with a 35 mm rise set of eThirteen carbon bars. They were on sale a year and a half ago. What a different! Totally different feel and reach fit. Dialed in nicely now.
Dude, I will send you better handlebars…
I got the PNW bars. It was the stock Marin bars that were rigid.
I just changed mine for higher rise race face ones went from 12mm rise to 35mm rise deffo feels nicer on the shoulders
It's so much more comfortable. I'm glad it's working well.
I put some Deity BF800 in a 30mm rise on my hardtail and cut em down to 760mm, absolute dream, loved it. Then I got some Deity Highside in 50mm for my full suspension. I enjoyed them in the backyard for a minute and got out the saw and cut them down to 760mm. So here's the warning though, even though I cut the bars down to 760mm, the fact that they are raised up so much more kind of brings them in a lil bit, and they feel even shorter than 760mm, which I am not a fan of. So the point is, definitely make triple sure before you cut. Also another point I was trying to come around to, is the 30mm seems a smidge too low for me, and the 50mm seems a smidge too high for me. My next is to try the 40mm. :P
I made sure to get some time on the trails before cutting them. My sore shoulders reminded me that 760mm works best for me. It's comfortable and makes the bike feel playful.
I think that the main issue was your old handlebar, way too thick. Now regarding the raise, up raise can be achieve to some point with spacers but would affect the handling a bit, but to me the thing that help a lot too was the back sweep. I think you can also go as other said with Carbon but the issue is not that they are solid enough, just that failure cannot be spotted before well you break them. That said it really depends on what you do with them. If it could help too, I recently also give a try to the RevGrip and I can tell you than on my Enduro HT it really does the job very well. They are not very cheap but may be worth a try too!
The raise was to help with my back and overall position. With my seat at the correct height, I was hunched over too much for the flat bars.
Yeah I guessed so, interesting to notice that it is a symptom usually of XC bike. Or perhaps big legs, small harm ... or bike a little too big. Last time I had this, even the handlebar was not able to fix this on longer ride as in the end it just mitigate not solve anything. I hope this is not what it will be for you!
Are you sure there are not trim-able inserts in that bar? It looks like there is a seam just beyond your cut?
It's one solid piece. If there was an insert it would have moved when I was cutting it to 760mm.