![]() With the Fraser installed on the front of the Blur, it’s pretty rare to go on a group ride where someone doesn’t point it out. Syncros has added sanding texture to the grip area of the bar though, which increases surface friction with your grips, as well as the brake levers, shifter and dropper post clamps. We’ve been testing a 70mm length with an 8° drop. Carbon paste on the steerer clamp isn’t a requirement, but Syncros says it doesn’t hurt to use a little if you so choose. This makes installation a breeze, though I do find it’s harder visually to align the bars with the front wheel. Unlike the Renthal setup that was on the bike before, the Fraser uses just two T25 Torx bolts to clamp it down. You also get a plastic Garmin GPS mount in the box – more on that later. You can use standard 1 1/8in headset spacers, though Syncros includes a suite of plastic spacers that are designed to integrate neatly with the shape of the stem. ![]() The ‘stem’ has a 37mm stack height, which is actually 2mm shorter than the Renthal Apex stem I previously had on the bike. The Fraser slides straight onto a regular mountain bike fork steerer tube. Syncros offers the Fraser iC SL in a single 740mm width, with numerous ‘stem’ lengths and drop angles. Previously I’d been running a 760mm wide Renthal Fatbar Lite Carbon with a 60mm Apex stem, so as well as putting me in a racier position, the Fraser iC SL helped to drop nearly 100g from the cockpit – mass that sits quite high up on the bike. Given my talent is lightyears away from those uber-flexible World Cup XC athletes, I elected to test the standard Fraser iC SL handlebar in a 70mm ‘virtual’ length to suit my Santa Cruz Blur CC. There are two additional ‘Signature Editions’ of the Fraser handlebar: a 100mm long version with a 17° drop, as ridden by Andri Frischknecht, and a 90mm long version with an insane 25° drop as ridden by Nino Schurter. You can get it in four different lengths with 60, 70, 80 & 90mm options that emulate an 8° drop. The Fraser iC SL comes in a single 740mm width, and it gets a flat profile with a 6° up-sweep, and a 9° back-sweep. That’s lighter than most handlebars on the market! The 740mm wide Syncros Fraser iC SL, fitted to a Santa Cruz Blur CC test bike. Of course that also makes it incredibly lightweight – these weigh in at just 226g on our scales. This gives Syncros’ engineers more flexibility for tuning the bar’s damping and stiffness profile, while using less carbon in the construction process. Without a stem faceplate to worry about (and the overzealous, tool-wielding bolt-tighteners that are in charge of fitting and adjusting those faceplates), Syncros doesn’t need to overbuild the bar to account for those forces. When fitted, it kinda reminds me of a hammerhead shark. This creates a simpler structure overall, along with a distinctive look thanks to an organic, flared-out profile. There is no need for a traditional stem with the Fraser iC SL, because the handlebar is the stem too. Pretty wild isn’t it? Just like the Hixon, the Fraser is made in a single mould out of unidirectional carbon fibre. Syncros has since expanded on the iC concept – quite literally – with a 780mm wide option, and an 800mm wide DH-specific model called the Hixon iC 1.0 Rise.įor the XC racers and riders out there who don’t need such wide ape-hangers, there’s now a lightweight XC version too, called the Fraser iC SL. A very unusual-looking handlebar that integrated the fork steerer clamp into the single, angular, carbon fibre structure, the Hixon was the first bar to fall under the ‘Integrated Cockpit’ (iC) range. The Hixon handlebar was one of the first notable fruits of this labour. That’s all been turned on its head over the past couple of years, with Scott having injected a serious amount of R&D clout into the Syncros brand to take the performance and desirability levels up a notch. You know, stuff that worked fine and was decent, but prioritised value rather than attention-grabbing innovation. ![]() Wil Reviews The Syncros Fraser iC SL Carbon HandlebarĪround the time of its acquisition by Scott Sports back in 2012, Syncros was primarily focussed on by-the-numbers parts and accessories. Limitations with fitting bar-mounted accessories Less adjustability than a conventional setup
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