The simply named Hope Carbon Handlebar. It has s a reasonable weight for carbon fibre and has a nice compliant feel to it too.

>>> Best mountain bike handlebars in 2019

Fitting a carbon bar to your bike saves weight but it’s not a cheap upgrade. Typically, a bar made from carbon is twice the price of aluminium but at most is only a 100g lighter, which puts it pretty high on the cost-per-grams-saved scale. Carbon does have other properties though, for example it can have a damping effect, which reduces some of the trail chatter.

The problem was this Hope Carbon Handlebar it’s one of the most expensive carbon handlebars we ever tested – it’s £25 more than our two favourite carbon bars, the Race Face SixC and Renthal Fat Bar V2.

The Hope bar is nicely finished and has some cool features, like the set-up gradients to make brake lever and stem positioning consistent. It also has a good shape – the five degrees of upsweep and seven degrees of backsweep are similar to the two bars mentioned. Unfortunately, it’s only 780mm wide and is only available in a 31.8mm clamp size but it is oversized at the bulge area, which according to Hope adds some extra strength. From a personal point of view, I prefer the more streamlined look of the Renthal and Race Face but the Hope shape is not ugly, just different.

For the money a carbon bar isn’t the most costs effective way to save weight but it’s a nice addition because it’s something you’re going to be looking at every time you ride. Hope’s Carbon riser does look good and feels great but the high price counts against it.