This really is a good looking bar, I was super excited when it came it and thought it would work great. I'm a fan of a shallow drop for a gravel bar as well. The bar looks and feels premium.
Cable routing is excellent but that also leads to the first quirk, the grooves for cables run up into the stem clamping area. There are explicit warning marks (which are not shown in the pictures here) where you stem must clamp and they're fairly wide. I tried my stock OEM Cervelo stem and the clamping area was too narrow. Same with a Zipp, FSA and Ritchey stem I had laying around. Also, the cable routing grooves dictate how much you can rotate the bars in the stem. This wasn't a problem for me but if you wanted your bars pointed fairly upwards for some reason, the manual says don't do that.
Okay fine, I'll buy the matching Pro Discover stem. That...kinda meets the minimum clamping area criteria. It's pretty close and I wonder if Pro designed this to be used with their aero stem and no others.
Setting up the bar, I put the shifters up where the shifter clamp just touches the highest clamping mark on the bars. When I ride I have my forearms pretty flat and like the shifters to be a little more upright. Well at this position, the shifters are pretty close to flat. I really don't know what most of the rest of the marked clamping range would look like - shifters horizontal or pointing downwards?
On top of this, at the highest point where I have the shifters installed, there's a gap between the GRX shifter body and the wide part of the bar it's supposed to match up to. I guess it makes sense they couldn't really overlap and the hood covers it, but now the feel of the bar is a slight bump/rise as you get near the hoods, then a divot where you're on the round part of the bar and then the body of the shifter.
Personally this is a one star but I gave it three because maybe it's just me as the other two reviews seem very positive. But the setup ergonomics of this bar just seem strange. And the fact that you need a stem with a wide faceplate is a pain. I also can't find that stem clamping area requirement mentioned on Pro's website or in any of the "professional" reviews I read before purchasing it.
On my Tarmac SL8 that's running SRAM AXS I am rocking the Zipp SL 80 Race bars at 36cm, which make sense keeping it all in house and having the ability to easily run BLIP shifters. I like the recessed routing on the SL 80 Race because the Tarmac stem I am running does not support in route routing, however on my Supersix Evo Hi-Mod running Shiamno Di2 with the Conceal stem I am running the ENVE SES Aero In Route bars 35/40 since they can be run semi integrated or fully internal. Both bars weigh about the same 250g, both have flared bottoms and narrow tops, but I found the ENVE Aero bars to have much more of a flat razer like shape than the Zipp's. Both bars are comfortable on the tops and hoods and both have similar reaches 79mm vs 80mm. The biggest differences would be the ENVE bar is super stiff, while I found the Zipp to offer much more compliance. The integration on the ENVE even when run semi integrated and not through the stem is much cleaner than the Zipp's that rely on a really tidy tape job. I am not really a fan of the integrated bar end plugs, but I guess they are more aero, but yet again you are stuck with this type of plus unless you cut the bar ends. I guess the killer feature for some people will be the fact that you can add ENVE's Aero clip on extensions to these bars, making them perfect for time trials or triathlons. Pair the ENVE Aero pairs with ENVE's own Aero In Route stems and you have the cleanest two piece aero setup out there, granted my Supersix Evo does not support them stem. Price wise typical ENVE top of the market pricing and in contrast the Zipp SL 80 Race is anywhere from $25-$60 cheaper before you factor in an sales or coupons. Both bars are great but in my opinion I still run the Zipp's if you were running SRAM AXS with a non in route stem and I run the ENVE if you were running Shimano and or running an ENVE In Route Stem. BTW the aero benefits of running a very narrow two piece handlebar integrated or semi integrated at the tops is much more aero than running a larger one piece cockpit integrated, plus it allows you to be adjust fit so much easier, it's cheaper in initial purchase and replacement cost.
I had my eye on these bars for a while, and bought them when they went on sale. I was looking for a good 'bunch bar' at 36.5 width and so far I'm very happy with these. They've made an improvement in my comfort and confidence on the track, both during training and racing.
This is my favorite bar tape. Although I haven't used any of the thicker thicknesses of Lizard Skins bar tape. Which I think would be more better for gravel bike applications. It dampens better than any other bar tape that I have tried. And it surprisingly wears very well, considering how soft it feels. The instructions tell you not to stretch it when applying it. But I have found that around sharp bends it's necessary to stretch it some.
