ProTaper celebrates the past and future with new bars
The new bars include a special-edition Icon Gold Bar, carbon bars and a XC bar
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Vittoria has added a fifth tyre to its trail and enduro range.
It's a tyre and helmet edition of Five Cool Things.
ProTaper, the American MTB component brand, has launched new handlebars to highlight the past and take a look at the future. The brand's new XC Hyperlite bar is a dip into the cross-country segment, and ProTaper has also started a J-Unit line of handlebars and grips, catering for junior riders.
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Starting off with the ProTaper A25, the bar gets a new finishing and graphic treatment, recalling the 1997 Leigh Donovan's world champion bike.
The limited Icon Gold bar is otherwise the same alloy bar as the regular A25 bar; it's 810mm wide, weighs 320g and comes with a 25.4mm rise.
The limited quantities of these bars mean they will be gone in no time.
Protaper Bar BLK 7.20.21-1674 RETOUCHED.jpg, by Suvi Loponen
PT C12 and PT C25
But ProTaper has not only looked into the past with the new products. The PT C12 and PT C25 are brand-new carbon bars featuring the brand's PFL (plastic foam lamination) technique.
This claims to create efficiency in the manufacturing process, meaning there is less resin and carbon laminate, resulting in a 15% lighter bar - compared to more traditional manufacturing techniques.
And in addition to shaving off grams, ProTaper says the wall thickness ensures that material employment in the product’s structure is optimised, reinforcing areas where strength is necessary and load forces are applied while eliminating unnecessary material where it's not needed. As these bars are designed for downhill mountain biking, enduro mountain biking and all-mountain, riders that prefer the more extreme side of mountain biking now have a lightweight bar choice.
The C12 and C25 are available in 810mm width, weigh 190g and come with 12.7mm (C12) and 25.4mm (C25) rise.
XC Hyperlite
ProTaper Hyperlite Aplus (1).jpg, by Suvi Loponen
Lastly in the range of new products is XC Hyperlite, which marks ProTaper's dip into the cross-country mountain biking segment, where every gram counts.
This 760mm wide bar has an impressive 125g weight, and it has no upsweep or rise to it.
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