Lee Cougan positions its new Comptrol handlebar as a lightweight, stiff, integrated piece of kit that gives direct and responsive handling — at a minimal weight penalty. The 760mm-wide bar & stem combo also seeks to give the front end of your bike a more streamlined look by hiding the cables both visually and from the elements.
Lee Cougan Comptrol 1-piece carbon MTB handlebar
The 3K weave and unidirectional carbon bar weighs 275 grams from the factory. To thread your cables through it, unscrew and remove a cover plate on the underside of the bar. The cables exit at the center and pass through a cable guide and into the frame cavity in front of the steerer tube.
Lee Cougan developed the bar with help from its mountain bike racing arm, Team Soudal. The design process led to optimized layup of the two materials, geared toward balancing rigidity and comfort.
The bar has the ability to fit up to four cables inside and uses a carbon layup molding technique to help guide the cables without encumbering steering. And the brand says it’s easy to disassemble for maintenance or packing—as much as internal cable routing can be, anyway.
The team says it ran through more than ten different 3D modeling and field testing prototypes. Seeking the right formula between angles, sweep, and stem length, it landed on a -15° stem angle and compatibility with three possible stem lengths.
You can fit the Lee Cougan Comptrol integrated handlebar on any bike. The 95mm virtual stem length variant is available now at Lee Cougan’s website. Customers who need the 85 or 105mm versions will have to wait until April 2022 for delivery. Full specs are below. MSRP: $360.
Stem angle: -15°
Upsweep: 3.5°
Back sweep: 8°
Width: 760 mm
Virtual stem length: 85 mm, 95 mm, or 105 mm
Weight: 275 g +/- 3%
Max tightening torque: 6 Nm
Material: 3K and unidirectional carbon weave
