Pro Vibe Aero Carbon handlebar

The Pro Vibe Aero Carbon handlebar is a stunning piece of design and engineering, in form and function. Both shape and material have been developed to create a watt-saving front end without sacrificing stiffness or comfort. This level of excellence costs, though, and is probably the Vibe's only downside.

In the professional peloton everything is about performance and integration, which is exactly why the Pro Vibe handlebar was found on so many bikes at the Tour de France. Designed with aerodynamics in mind, the Vibe uses various ways to cheat the wind by profiling certain areas and some pretty well-thought-out internal cable routing.

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With the majority of top flight riders using electronic groupsets, it is no surprise to learn that the Vibe has been aimed primarily at that market.

Shimano has recently released its latest Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, R9100, which now has the control box positioned in the end of one of the drops, replacing the bar tape plug. Pro, being one of Shimano's brands, has positioned the routing holes to reflect this, for a near-hidden gear cable system at the front end – well, when paired with the matching Vibe stem (review to come). The neat hole at the rear centre of the bar is the trick.

The cable guides you can see in the photos are positioned for you to feed the cables through. There is actually a really detailed video which shows the best way to set the bar up, along with the Vibe stem and fork steerer-mounted battery.

It's not just Di2 that works with the Vibe, though; I used it with a mechanical Shimano 105 5800 gear and brake setup.

The routing holes could do with being maybe a millimetre bigger all the way around to make threading the fatter cable outers through, but it isn't that arduous a job. Half an hour of fiddling with a torch and a paper clip, and it was job done.

The entry and exit holes are positioned exactly where they need to be, and although I was initially worried about tight cable bends, the gear shifting has remained spot on and there doesn't feel to be any sponginess in the braking.

The sandpaper-effect grips for stem clamping and the brake levers do an excellent job of keeping everything in place.

So, it looks the business, but does it deliver on the performance front?

Absolutely. The way it feels is remarkable, with certain areas offering a little flex for comfort while other parts are stiff enough for a full-on, eyeballs-out sprint.

Pro has incorporated Innegra fibres into the carbon fibre. What's that then? The manufacturer says: 'A high performance fiber used in composite and textile applications which can be converted into many different reinforcements.' Its benefits are said to be light weight, vibration damping, and excellent energy dissipation – which could explain why the Vibe bar feels so comfortable.

There is no road buzz felt through the bar at all, and even big jolts from the tarmac don't seem to jar as much as with the ITM X-One bar it replaced. And that wasn't exactly uncomfortable. On the Vibe you get a tiny amount of flex when on the hoods, which just takes the edge off if you are out for a long ride.

> Check out the handlebars used by the pros in 2017

In terms of aerodynamics, Pro has used a kamm-tail design for the tops. This is an aero section but with the rear end chopped off rather than finishing in a taper. The UCI – professional cycling's governing body – has a 3:1 ratio limit for aero sections on a bike, so this shape gets around that, with the theory being that the air will be tricked by the square cut-off into continuing to flow as if it was a full teardrop shape.

You might not be able to tell from the pictures, but the section of the drops facing the wind have also been narrowed into an oval shape. This feels odd at first, when you go from the hoods or round section of the bottom of the drops, being a skinny hand hold, but it's something you get used to.

Right, let's talk money.

To be honest, carbon fibre handlebars are really an extravagance as you very rarely save any weight over top-end aluminium alloy versions, and although the Vibe is very comfortable you could probably just stick some thicker tape on your existing bar.

If you are prepared to drop 300 quid on the Vibe, though, you won't be disappointed. It is really, really good in almost every single aspect. The the ITM X-One I mentioned earlier is a massive £110 cheaper, though, and it's the price of the Vibe that costs it that one star compared with the ITM.

Verdict

Top-flight performance from a handlebar designed primarily for Di2 users