Barebow Risers - The Next Generation

Apparently we're contractually obligated to talk about things other than Lady Korean archers and Olympic recurve. Our Korean fanboi recurve-ocentric editor has taken the huff and locked himself in a cupboard with a complete download of the 2012 Ladies Olympic finals on his ipad. Now we have some peace, lets talk about specialist barebow risers...

With the huge uptick in barebow interest in the last few years, due in part to Lancaster Archery's promotional work in the US, the hideous price of compounds and heavily accessorised recurves following suit .. minimalistic barebow has become the darling of the archery set. Once to shoot barebow, you just took a standard recurve riser, didn't put sights or stabs on it and had at it! Then companies like Gillo and Spigarelli stepped in with risers that were more configured as barebow risers but not really designed that way from the ground up. More recently, Kinetic locked down the entry level barebow with its outstanding Vygo riser of which we have several in the club. However, if you wanted to upgrade your kit to something more top tier, there wasn't really anything. This has all changed in the last couple of years, because designed from the base up, true barebow risers are IN DA HOUSE! ...
<embarrassed silence>
Err, well .. these new risers are often marked as hybrids (recurve compatible) but this is more their side hustle so as not to restrict sales to the wider archery community. Lets take a look at five of these bad boys which are very definitely not following the mainstream recurve template and do look kinda funky ..

Mybo Mykan - approx £590 - Barebow only ... One of the "elder statesmen" (by a year or so) of the new wave of barebow risers is the 25" Mykan. Produced by Archery retailer Merlin, this puppy was custom designed to consider geometry, balance, mass and flex when a bow was shot without stabilizers. There is no Olympic recurve option. The riser, in both left and right hand options, has a base weight of 1650 grams which makes it a chunki boi from the word go. It has all the usual bushings to accept screw in weights (either normal or flat) but also a master weight (350g) can be screwed into the riser as an integral part. This weight (in six colours) costs an additional £69. The riser's peak weight not adding additional metal weights (via the usual bushings) is a pretty impressive 2kg so its not for those with weak shoulders. The riser is covered with Cerakote which is a ceramic based covering which can protect against scratches, wear & tear and is heat resistant. Specifically its there to protect those 10 standard and 9 premium colours against the roughness a riser experiences in day to day shootie. The first iteration of the Mykan was well liked. The current version released 2024 is said to be an improvement on the already impressive performance of the first gen. It sets the barebow riser benchmark pretty high.
You can check out the colours and the prices on Merlin's website ... here

Kinetic Elezo - approx £300 - Hybrid ... Kinetic are a brand that love to buck the current pricing trends (ie upwards) with their insanely well specced and reasonably priced kit. Their Vygo barebow riser is absolutely recommended if you want to dip your toe into barebow. However, the 25" Elezo is more about taking the next step .. again at reasonable price. Superficially the Elezo looks similar to the Mykan so it will be compared to it - fairly or unfairly. Both are in left and right hand configurations and both have the large framework on the bottom of the riser for the integral weight. In Kinetic's case the base riser comes in a 1350g and the integral weight is an additional 350g. These weights come with the riser making for a nice little saving right away before you consider the Elezo is already nearly half the price of the Mykan. The Elezo is fitted with a wooden handle which is a nice touch of class. The colour range is impressive with some of the colours being two tone giving the riser a pretty impressive aesthetic. The integral weight only comes in black which, to be honest, does not detract from the risers good looks. The Elezo does differ from the Mykan in that the Kinetic riser can be set up as a recurve bow as it has all the required attachment points for sight and clicker. Kinetic's mission statement believes every archer deserves equipment that combines precision, versatility and quality without compromising affordability. Here, like all their other products, they look to have managed just that.
Kinetic's website can be found here and the riser is available on Merlin's website here

Gray Arcum - approx £550 - Hybrid ... Ever heard of Gray? Us neither but this South African company has come up with something pretty different. The Arcum is a bottom heavy 25" riser designed to be shot as a barebow riser first but could be shot as a normal recurve. At 1550g, and available left or right handed, its a robust riser that actually requires no additional weight for an intermediate barebow archer as the center of mass is so well placed it can be shot straight out the box. Optional weights for fine tuning are available and include custom stainless steel 186g or the larger 355g bolt on weights. The Arcum's hole weight reduction system was inspired by nature. Looking like a bee's honeycomb, the holes lighten the riser but don't affect its strength. These holes also allow 4 different button positions but all those holes might cause some issues with the fitting of your preferred rest. Colours are a little limited with red, blue, black, orange, purple and a natural metallic silver but the main bases are covered and certainly doesn't affect the risers visual impact.
Annoyingly it doesn't come in yellow (pic right is orange) otherwise, with all the holes, they could have called the bow Emmental!
Gray's website can be found here and Centre Shot seem to be the only stockist in the UK 

Sebastien Flute Newtron - approx £330 - Hybrid ... Since Seb Flute branded kit returned to the archery world we've seen some some interesting looking risers but nothing too revolutionary. Some have been quite angular which is at odds with the more common Win&Win curved aesthetic. The Newtron follows this rather angular style similar to the Ascent with quite the geometric pattern. Left and right handed, the limb adjustment system went through a redesign to make it simpler and more robust. Simple is always better when dealing with tuning. Where this bow really sets itself apart is the weight system. Oh, it can take the usual lumps of metal, but this is an engineers solution. Coming in at 1300g for the basic riser, its not very heavy. However, additional weights can be BOLTED onto the lower portion of the riser so looking like they are an integral part of the riser. One or two sets of weights can be bolted on. A single aluminium set weight 350g. The stainless steel weight sets weigh 1kg. Both sets are identical so you can mix and match materials tailoring your weights perfectly. Where the eyebrows really go up is when you consider TWO stainless steel weights sets plus riser = 3.3kg (7.26lbs). That is an insane amount of weight on a bow BUT if your arm and shoulders can take that weight, that is almost more inertia than a bow could ever need. The weights when bolted on accentuates the engineered look which is pretty nifty if you be liking angular things. Pic left has 2 weight packs on the lower half of the riser.
Seb's website can be found here and the stockists for this puppy in the UK is Quicks

NIK'A Archery Stellar - approx £550 - Hybrid ... The Nikabow company was established in Dongguan, Guangdong, China in 2004 providing ODM and OEM* services for international archery brands. As they branched out into their own kit, it was in the main, pretty normal but they really thought outside the box with the Stellar barebow riser. Where the Mykan and the Elezo fit a weight into the lower part of the risers frame .. The Stellar fits a box. This box operates sort of like a magazine on a rifle into which you can load strips of weights. This allows you to fine tune the weights in the weight box very precisely allowing you to adjust the weight and center of gravity. A shock absorbing rubber membrane prevents any annoying rattle. The weight on of the riser can therefore range from 1190g to 2130g which is a pretty significant range. Some of the two tone colour schemes can look a little garish at first glance however the red/black and gold/black combinations definitely look good and the green/black does grow on you. Three clicker/button (verta) plates are supplied with high, medium and low button positions to allow rests and buttons to be placed exactly where you want them. The fact they include a clicker plate in these parts isn't a problem for barebow shooters - just don't install a clicker! ;o) In addition to all of the above, the riser comes with 2 shock-absorbers built into the riser just as the current W&W Meta risers have. The innovations sure are stacking up on this bad boi. The 25" riser is available in left and right handed versions and that striking paint job is anodized giving a much nicer finish than simple paint.
Nik'a's website can be found here with Merlin being a major stockists in the UK

So there you have it. Five very different barebow risers very different from the run of the mill .. did we mention they were very different? All with barebow as their main squeeze and recurve as a side piece (in 4 of the five). Mykan's can be seen in quite a few clubs since its been out for a couple of years (available for viewing at GA - Chris's Ironman bow) but we're looking forward to seeing the others pop up in the coming months/year as noob barebowers start to upgrade their kit. Barebow risers are finally coming of age.

 *          *          *

* An "ODM" (original design manufacturer) is a company that designs and manufactures a product. An "OEM" (original equipment manufacturer) only manufactures a product.
As always, please do your own research. Our articles are for awareness purposes and what we think is rather nifty, might not tune your arrow (archery equivalent of float your boat ;o). Archery is an insanely taste and perception orientated sport. You like what you like - just take care with your wallet.