The Race Face Atlas handlebar is made from 7075-series aluminium, which is a super strong alloy with a high fatigue life.

Read more: Best mountain bike handlebars in 2020

Unless there is a trail in the Whistler Bike Park called Atlas, I suspect this handlebar is named after the Titan from Greek Mythology. Atlas held up the world, so the implication is that this is a strong handlebar. You can actually see how little 7075-series aluminium is needed to make this bar by checking out the wall thickness at the end – it’s wafer thin.

The Race Face Atlas handlebar is 820m wide, has a 35mm centre bulge and comes in two rises – 20 and 35mm. The geometry is pretty standard with an 8º back-sweep and 5º upsweep. The shape is really good and your hands fall into a natural position. The Atlas is finished in a high-gloss – that’s really tough and so far isn’t showing much in the way of wear – some alloy bars I’ve tested scuff quicker than a new pair of kids schools shoes. This one still looks like new.

To stop the bar slipping in the stem Race Face adds a coarse patch at the clamping area. There are no gradients on the control centres for setting up brake levers, but you can always use an angle finder if you’re that precise.

In the past I was a big believer in carbon bars that offered a bit more resilience, but these days aluminium can feel just as good and is usually half the price. Obviously, carbon can save weight, but the 100g weight saving is going to be pretty insignificant on an e-bike that weighs the best part of 22,000g. And this where I’ve been running this bar – on my Radon Render 10.0 Longtermer.

It’s not much, but I really like that extra 20mm width on the e-bike, as it offers a bit more leverage when muscling the extra weight around on techy singletrack. I’m not saying this is an e-bike specific handlebar but it is a little more versatile than most all-mountain/gravity handlebars I get to test.