Today Enve has announced that its AR One-Piece Handlebar is available aftermarket to the public - and they might just be some of the most expensive road handlebars ever, retailing at a staggering $1200/£1300.
Previously, the cockpit which is aimed at all-road riding, was only available on the Enve Custom Road. Now, anyone can have the shiny new carbon bars on their build - but how are they worth the same as a complete Specialized Allez?
Let's take a look...
Perhaps the first thing to note here, is that the AR One-Piece Handlebar is not the aero cockpit setup currently used by Tadej Pogačar and the rest of the UAE Team Emirates World Tour squad, although that setup is coming to the market soon - more on that later.
As I touched on before, the 'AR' in the AR One-Piece Handlebar stands for 'all-road'. True to the all-road category, the bars feature a little bit of everything. Enve says the bars feature aerodynamic profiling - though the American brand hasn't made any claims on the watt-saving capabilities.
They do support fully internal cable routing though, featuring compatibility with Enve's 'IN-Route' system. This means integration should be super easy with the brand's Melee, MOG and Custom Road frames, as well as any frame built around the IN-Route system. The bars also feature a proprietary K-edge mount to take care of your cycling computer.
The ergonomics are a little more interesting. Enve has opted for 50mm of flare on each and every variation of the new handlebars, which are available from 380mm measured at the hoods (center to center), all the way up to 460mm. This means the widest bar in the line-up is 510mm wide at the drops - certainly leading down the control/comfort over performance pathway.
As far as stem length is concerned, Enve has you covered from 90mm to 130mm in length, in 10mm increments.
The bars also feature a 76mm reach, and a 127mm drop, following almost exactly the same shape as Enve's Compact Road Handlebar.
That makes sense, as the Enve Custom Road which the bars were first designed for, has a maximum tyre clearance of 35mm, and an optimal tyre clearance of 27-32mm - plenty for some light traveling.
When it comes to weight, the new AR handlebars are right in the ballpark of the competition. Enve claims 330-360 grams, depending on bar/stem combination, which is in line with the likes of Pinarello's Most Talon handlebar (~350 grams), though it doesn't quite compete with the Roval Rapide Cockpit down at just 310 grams.
But what about Tadej Pogačar's handlebars? Well, snuck into the bottom of the press release was a teaser of what is to come from the American carbon experts.
The Enve SES Pro Team One-Piece is the brand's race-focused cockpit. It is said to feature SES Aero optimization and much narrower bar widths available in just three sizes. They'll still carry the same 50mm flare though, with the three variations being 350/400mm, 370/420mm, and 390/440mm.
Enve hasn't specified a launch date for the bars, but we speculate that it will most likely align with the big spring classics races later this year.
For more information, check out the Enve website.
