A few years back I stopped using carbon handlebars on my road bike. There were a few reasons for that but one of the reasons was not being able to use clip-on aero bars.  Recently, while riding a new Orbea Opal (review coming soon) I was reminded of the comfort provided by carbon handlebars and decided to look around for set of carbon drop bars that would meet my requirements of shape, stiffness and clip-on compatibility.

The bars I found that seemed to fit my criteria are the Alpha Q Prolite Road Handlebars.  They have a flat type top that seems shaped to mate well to the ergonomics of my hands and position when riding.  There is generous room on either side of the stem for mounting clip- ons before the bar top flattens out.  The entire bar is coated in a non-slip finish so the stem to bar and clip-on to bar connections are very secure.  The finish also allows the shifters to mount in a wider range of positions than many carbon bars without slipping.  I know many people like the transition from the bar to the shifter hood to be a flat as possible.  The Prolites aren’t flat like that, curling off to the drop section quickly.  I happen to like that on these bars.  It allows the shifters to be positioned lower without the drops being too low and leaving the bar tops high for a relaxed riding position.  I like the Prolite’s  drop section shape as well.  A nice long flat lower drop section for rolling along the flats and a good ergo bend for fast pace lines and sprinting.  Shifting and braking is easily reached in the drops as well.

One of the things I was a bit concerned with when I chose these bars was the internal routing of the brake and shift cable housing. However, it couldn’t have been easier to work with.  The SRAM Red shifters allow a choice for routing the shift cable to either side of the bars.  I ran the brake cable to the outside and the shift cable to the inside and both into the opening in the bar.  Alpha Q provides two, heavy gauge wires that are placed into the openings in the bar. The wires guide the cable housing in the first opening and out of the second with surprising ease.  I would even go so far as to say it was easier to route the housing through the bar that it would have been to wrestle the two runs of housing with electrical tape to secure them if they were to be externally secured.

The Prolites did provide the additional comfort I was hoping for without sacrificing stiffness.  At 230-240 grams depending on width, the Prolite is light for such a stiff, clip-on compatible non- traditional shaped bar.

I’ll update if my opinion changes, but after almost 100 miles I like the Alpha Q Prolite handlebar.  If you use a road bike for triathlons or time trials and want a light, stiff and comfortable set of drop bars that are clip-on compatible I recommend you give the Alpha Q Prolite handlebars a look.

MSRP $299

Performance 9 - stiffer, better finish, clip-on compatible make it better than other carbon bars Quality 10 Value 7 Aesthetics 8

Update: After about 500 miles, I noticed that my brakes were not returning to center fully.  I removed the brake cable housing and noticed that they were crimped from the tight corners inside the bars to cause enough friction to hinder braking performance.  It’s likely that I could route the housing a little differently out of the shifter or install a fresh cable with a little teflon lube to remedy this with SRAM shifters.  Due to the differences in how Shimano (including the new 7900) and Campy route their housing out of the shifters, I don’t think it would be an issue at all with those systems.  This is not a big enough issue to change my overall positive opinion of these bars.

Mark