Renthal FatBar Lite Handlebar: Rider Review

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

Mountain bike handlebars come in so many varieties. With different widths, rise, and sweep, it can be hard to determine what will work best. However, once you find the sweet spot it's hard to deviate. Our friend, Evan Ruzanski, decided it was time to make a few tweaks to his riding position by getting a new bar with a lower rise. Check out his review below!

Introduction

I did quite a bit of research before purchasing a new handlebar for my Specialized Enduro 29-inch mountain bike. Ultimately I’m glad I decided to go with the Renthal Fatbar Lite Carbon Zero Rise handlebar.

This bar replaced another Renthal bar, the Fatbar Carbon with 20-mm rise, I previously ran on this bike. Being a long-travel, 29-inch bike, I felt this bar was putting me in too much of an upright, too-far-back position, so began the quest for a similar, but flatter, replacement.

Reasons to Buy

I found there are surprisingly currently few flat carbon handlebars built and marketed for long-travel enduro bikes and in the size and shape I prefer that fit me well (780 mm with 9-degree backsweep). My decision came down to the Renthal Fatbar Lite Carbon Zero Rise bar or the Whisky No. 9 Flat Bar. I chose the Renthal bar because of my good experiences with Renthal bars and stems, their solid reputation for making light, strong, quality mountain bike and motocross bars and stems, the fact that this bar "significantly exceeds the EN BMX drop test standard” (according to the Renthal website) along with its sub-200 gram weight (my bar weighs exactly 190 grams as stated), and for the bling factor that this bar matches the Renthal Apex stem on my bike.

Make sure to check out our review on Oneup Components latest carbon bar as we test and compare it against a few other brands. 

Final Thoughts

On the trail, this bar performs superbly and fits and feels like the Renthal Fatbar Carbon bar with the 20-mm rise it replaced. I’ve taken this bar to legit technical trails with long stretches of fast, 2-3 foot drops, and did some jumping at the bike park with complete trust, confidence, and enjoyment.

The zero rise of this bar definitely improves my position on my long-travel 29-inch mountain bike as well. Great purchase!