I’m on a comfort kick right now. If you take issue with what you read here, or in anything I write in the next couple of weeks, just know that in my current mood comfort, ergonomics, ease-of-use trump all (and by all I mean weight, aerodynamics, price, cosmetics, industrial design, cool factor). In this spirit I bring you the latest handlebar from CADEX, which I have chosen to place on my bikepacker. It’s really not a bar built for this use but it’s on there anyway, because of ergonomics which I’ll get to.

But let’s put to bed something that must be dealt with, and that’s the price. This is a $450 handlebar and that’s too much for just about any road or gravel handlebar. That said, we have a lot of readers here who’ll pop for what it takes to outfit the bike they want and this bar is the ultimate. It's a gravel bar and usually I wouldn’t hesitate to put it on my road bike, but this bar is gravel only and I’ll get to why. It weighs 190 grams in the size I’m riding (42cm). I might put a 40cm on my road bike but on this bikepacker, with a lot of weight on the front, I’m opting for a bar with a bit more control. While very lightweight the bar is strong, largely because of the way CADEX makes their bars, with one continuous mold. No joints. Usually with a carbon bar the hooks are made separately and bonded on. Not so these bars and no joint means weight savings.

I don’t ride a bar any longer on a road or gravel bike that doesn’t have flare or something like it. Frankly I don’t care whether it’s flare or outsweep. Flare is when the entire hook is angled. This means the hood will be angled too. Outsweep is when the hook is not angled, so the hood can remain vertical, but the hook below the hood takes an outward bend. That widens the grip or the stance when you move from the hoods to the drops.

But more to the point – for me – it allows the bar to be built with a very shallow drop – which I like – and my wrist clears the underside of the handlebar when I’m in the drops of a shallow-drop bar. With this bar, it’s 16° flare and a 5° outsweep and I don’t need that much flare. This is what makes this a true gravel bar and not quite as good a match for my road bike. I’ve got a CADEX AR on a road bike of mine and I find that a perfect road bar.

Some roadies like bars in a narrow width, because wider drops (whether by flare our outsweep) will allow a rider to adopt a very narrow, aero roleur position – hands on hoods – while retaining a sufficiently wide bar at the drops for sprinting. Think Campenaerts. But I think that 5° is more in the ballpark for performance road. I don’t know if this bar would make the 50cm max width UCI limit for road riding even in its 40cm size.

Look at this bar from the back and you’ll see a pretty big hole. The lack of this hole was a failing in the CADEX AR handlebar, in my opinion, because it foreclosed on the option to use it on a bike with fully internal hydraulics. Think QR’s SR5 (which is a road bike I own) or a Cervelo Caledonia 5 or Aspero 5. If you’re going to spend this much money on a bar, you might have a bike with hydraulic lines running through the handlebar and stem. (That said, the CADEX AR is on my Cervelo R5 and that bike doesn't use hydraulics that route through the handlebar and stem).

Finally, on the subject of geometry, the tops of this bar has a 5° backsweep. The “tops” on most road bars just travel straight out, perpendicular to the direction the bike is traveling. Gravel has caused handlebar makers to take license with this. Profile Design’s DRV GMR bar angles up, then flattens out, as does FSA’s K-Wing AGX. This CADEX bar angles back, and this isn’t the only bar that does this. If you want a really short reach bar backsweep is one way to get there. The result of backsweep and either flare our outsweep means you can get a bar with 70mm reach and 115mm drop, and that’s my current favorite geometry, road or gravel.

Here’s more on this handlebar. I will close by saying that what makes this bar special is its weight, and that commands the price. But what makes it utilitarian is its geometry, and that hole in the clamp section big enough for a pair of hydraulic lines. This means I could use this bar with – say – internal stem systems like those made by, for example, FSA. But there’s no reason this geometry and that big hole can’t be made in an aluminum bar selling for around than $100. That is the kind of bar Zipp, Profile or FSA could easily make and remember, in my current mood comfort beats all. Including weight. Zipp’s Service Course SL-70 XPLR comes pretty close to matching the CADEX GX's ergonomics at $118.