The Race Face Next SL is a very light big bore handlebar, for riders who want more comfort.
Race Face has added a new handlebar to its cockpit component offering, prioritizing lightness and comfort over width.
The Next SL is an interesting combination of relatively narrow overall width and large core 35mm design. Whilst handlebars have trended wider over the last few years, with the promise of greater steering stability and leverage in technical terrain, the Next SL isn’t huge.
It measures 740mm of width and should appeal to XC and trail riders, who prefer quick steering.
Race Face engineers and product designers fielded a broad reach of rider feedback to complete the new Next SL’s geometry, settling on 8° of backsweep and 5° upsweep to shape the handlebar’s overall profile.
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Unlike many other lightweight carbon-fibre handlebars in the 740mm size, this new Next SL is not a flat bar, as it features 10mm of rise.
Composite engineers involved with the Next SL project have created an asymmetric carbon-fibre layup and orientation that dampens trail buzz, promising excellent vertical compliance. If you are an XC or trail rider who suffers from hand fatigue, this 740mm carbon-fibre handlebar could be a solution.
More material where you need, less where you don’t
Helping Race Face to achieve its vertical absorption properties with the Next SL, is additional material at the front and rear of the handlebar’s profile. This gives it the required strength, whilst some material could be removed from other parts of the structure, to improve vertical compliance.
Beyond its considered carbon-fibre structure and dimensions, the Race Face Next SL is also impressively light, at only 167g. Race Face claims it to be the lightest 35mm bore handlebar you can buy.
Riders who want to use a 35mm bore carbon-fibre handlebar, at radically reduced width, have the option of trimming down these Next SLs to 690mm, if they wish.