Ritchey WCS Carbon ErgoMax Handlebar

The Ritchey WCS Carbon ErgoMax handlebar has a great shape that suits both endurance road riding and forays onto the rougher stuff. It's light and comfortable, although it doesn't damp the road buzz as much as some. Check out others in our guide to the best handlebars, what you need to know and how to choose.

It's a full-house for features, this one: pretty much every handlebar development is present and correct. Swept-back and aero-profiled tops? Check! Flared drops? Check! Riser position? Check! Internal routing? Check!

It's a fairly similar design to the Ritchey Comp ErgoMax handlebar we reviewed in 2019; the rise is a bit more pronounced at 15mm and the carbon construction allows all sorts of routing holes for various configurations of cables, wires and hoses.

The shape, so the marketing goes, has a lot to do with Tom Ritchey not being especially organised when it comes to getting out on the bike. You might like to have your route all loaded up and ready, but not Tom... 'He seldom has a plan for that day's ride,' says Ritchey's website. 'He might head right to the trails close to his house for an afternoon of ripping singletrack, or he might be gone for several hours on a brisk road ride. There's also a good chance he'll spend a lot of time on the gravel roads that link his favourite trails to long stretches of tarmac.' So the shape is a catch-all solution that's designed to cover all bases.

The standard 31.8mm clamp section extends a little way either side of the stem. There's enough room for a light one side and an out-front mount the other. You wouldn't have enough room after that to fit, for example, some aero bars; that's moot here anyway, because Ritchey doesn't recommend that you do.

There's a good variety of holes and channels to allow for internal routing of wires and cables no matter what your setup, including a port to route through the stem for going fully internal.

At 238g this is a pretty light bar for its size. That size, nominally, is 42cm (40cm, 44cm and 46cm widths are also available) but because the drops flare out top to bottom by 12 degrees, and then flare front to back 3 degrees from parallel as well, the WCS Carbon ErgoMax offers quite a wide drop position, around 50cm, without affecting your stance on the hoods. The outward flare makes it a lot easier to switch from hoods to drops on rougher surfaces, and the wide low position is a longer lever for easier control when it's lumpy under the tyres.

All of the positions on the bar are comfortable. The slightly swept-back and raised top position is good for cruising and climbing, the hoods are a great default riding position, and the drops offer a bit more tuck, and a bit more leverage. I found myself heading to the drops more often than I normally would; thanks to the flare-out, the 15mm rise, and the fact that the drop at 118mm isn't all that large anyway, it's a very accessible position. Assuming you have 15mm of spacers under your stem you could always rearrange things if you like the look of the shape but don't actually want to go higher. It is a nice shape.

I'd say that this was a reasonably stiff bar, given the type of riding that it's designed for. The upshot of that is a direct feel, and the downside that it's not as compliant as some. The bar I swapped it out for, an alloy Ritchey VentureMax, probably has the edge in terms of comfort at the drops over the two, but there's not a lot in it.

> How to make your bike more comfortable – check out our 14 tips

I used the bar on my Kinesis Tripster ATR shod with some fairly thick (3mm) but fairly standard tape, and I'd say that the feel was spot on for the road but I'd have liked it to be a touch more forgiving on the rougher surfaces off-road. Given that it's designed for a bit of everything it's a decent compromise.

Value

At over £200 it's quite pricey, though less than something like the Coefficient Wave Bar or the Deda Elementi Gera DCR. 

Lauf's Smoothie Bar is around the same price ($290), and better in terms of comfort, but you don't get the raised profile.

Plenty of alloy riser drops we've recently reviewed are loads cheaper, of course: Ritchey's own alloy version of this bar is now £49.90, and Genetic's similarly shaped Driser is £49.99.

Conclusion

Overall, if you want the light weight, and the neatness of the routing, then the Ritchey WCS Carbon ErgoMax is a good choice if you're looking for a riser drop. It's comfortable in all positions, well made and decent value.

Verdict

Good quality riser drop bar that's light and has a range of usable hand positions