Carbon bar upgrade?

if you're adamant you want carbon bars there's some heavy discounts showing on Spokely behind the scenes (its still in beta sorry!)

FSA K force £300 down to £100
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fsa-k-force-new-ergo-road-handlebar-with-green-d...

or FSA 3k down from £225 to £90
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/fsa-k-force-3k-carbon-new-ergo-road-b...
3T Tornova too from £250 to £118
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/3t-tornova-team-carbon-handlebar/

or if you want to go really crazy theres the Cinelli Ram 2 All in one from £362 to £164 http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cinelli-ram-2-road-handlebar/

just depends what size youre after...

Spokely actually knows about a load more than that but its not quite ready yet

Yeah ! There is a great deal of misleading information regarding tyre performance ( I believe that this is how you spell TYRE in English ! ) Everyone has a personal opinion. I recently bought a pair of Kysirium Elite S wheels including the Mavic front and rear specific tyres. These tyres , at least according to most reviews, are not too good though in IMO they are brilliant. Why would Mavic spend decades researching and developing only to balls it up with crap rubber ?

Try this guide to setting your tyre pressures

http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/BQTireDrop.pdf

I just picked up some magnificent Syntace Racelite 2 carbon bars on Ebay. Can't even see they've been used. I have them on another bike and the difference they make - especially on the drops - is miles more than 25c tyres!

But yeah, don't spend 200 quid on bars.

I've got carbon bars on two of my bikes and I do love em, but I agree they're kind of an unnecessary luxury. Have you tried double wrapping bar tape before? I love it, just around the drops. A bit of extra cushioning goes a long way.
25mm tyres are great too - I run mine at 80-90 psi but I'm around 70kg; you might need a bit more pressure.
If you do go for the new bars, you can do well enough with chinese unbranded ones - I've got a set on my fast bike. I'm sure there's a lot of variance, but if you get it right you can get good performance very cheaply.

Perversely, I have all carbon finishing kit and cranks on my Caad10. I started with the seatpost and it made such a big difference that I wanted more of it. As other matching items came up at bargain prices, I bought them and haven't regretted. The biggest surprise was the impact the cranks had. The road buzz through the pedals was very pleasantly reduced. The bars/stem not such a big difference though. Probably because the caad has a carbon fork, but could be because the alloy bars and stem were rather flexi in comparison.

I bought a carbon bar and stem as bike bling and it made a small difference but not massive. Getting my saddle position right made more difference to my general comfort on the bike.

I run a S-Works carbon road bar on my road bike and its got a very noticeable damping effect, especially on the drops. This is compared to the stock aluminium bar it came with, which just felt harsh. If you jump up and down on my bars whilst holding the drops, you can see them actually flexing!

In contrast I've ridden different aero carbon road bars and found them rock solid

really depends on the design and construction of the carbon fibre handlebar.

Good set of 25 tires (or 28 tires if you can fit them), then a nice carbon bar are great way to smooth the ride.

I'd agree with the comments regarding tyres; everybody seems to fall for the manufacturers marketing about comfort in bike frames and assume it all comes from the frame. Then they whack on some small tyres at enormous pressures.

But look at a bike, specifically the frame, regardless of what it is made of you will find its pretty strong. Its difficult to bend. Now look at the tyres, they are made of soft rubber you can squish with your fingers. Which part of the system is going to be suited to deforming to cancel out impacts and vibrations?

If you want more comfort: let your tyres down a bit. If you want even more comfort: put some bigger tyres on at a lower pressure. It won't cost you anyting meaningful in rolling resistance - especially if you go for a nice supple tyres - and tyre wear will be lower and cut resistance will be higher due to lower specific pressure on a larger contact patch.

I don't understand why non-race racing bikes come with such small tyres as standard but i suppose it sells frame technology and it looks like the pros.

Alibaba, carbon bars for £40. A pair are currently adorning my bike and have been for about a year. Paint isn't the most robust though at £160 cheaper than some alternatives that's not the end of the world. No CE marks etc though, so caveat emptor.

They do make a difference but they're not magical and thicker bar tape and wider tyres (at lower pressures) will help too. But at the price they're cheaper than a decent pair of tyres.

Carbon bars have got to be one of the biggest margin items for the big brands so at retail prices I wouldn't bother.

I picked up a Fizik Cyrano R1 for chameleon. But you should be fine with a bull. The seatpost is a great buy as well. After installing these I don't feel any road buzz. I also roll on 25mm tyres (7 bar back, 6 bar front).

As above, before spending carbon handlebar money, have a look at fitting some wider tyres at a lower pressure than you currently have. The solace's have clearance for 28mm (on the solace 15 anyway) I believe, so you could spend £40/50 and achieve a much better damping effect as it would cover the whole frame not just your hands. Check what you're currently running and how much space there is between the tyre and chainstays

Also have a look at getting some decent gloves with padding suited to your hands. What works varies from person to person so if you can get to a shop to try them then great.

New handlebars can be an expensive job, especially once you've paid for new bar tape and the obligatory matching stem and seat post

If it were me, which it isn't, I'd try a roll of Lizard Skins 3mm-thick bar tape instead. I know £22 is a lot of cash for a short length of plastic tape but it really works.
If, by some fluke, you are dissatisfied with it, you could roll it up carefully and post it to me please.

I'd be playing around with tyre pressures long before I decided to buy a set of carbon bars for comfort, one of the most pointless upgrades going IMO.