Flats for drops!

[The Walrus]

I switched from a flatbar on the CX commuter to a shallow flared drop bar (Salsa Cowbell but you can also use a Zipp Service Course abr) on a 80mm 17 degree rise stem (Zipp Service Course) and getting into and staying in the drops is easy and comfortable. And way better than the flat bar setup.

I'd like to see a pic of that if possible. What do you like about those bars over flat or drops?

[silentbutdeadly]

Not sure if it’s an optical illusion due to the photo angle but the stem seems very short, which can certainly contribute to twitchy steering.

That's not my bike...just some internet random. The Carnegie bar is fitted to both my 29ers - both wear 90mm stems. It actually needs a short stem to make them work.

One of the Carnegie bars was on my CX commuter in the -25mm configuration but was too wide (aformentioned twitchy handling) to be comfortable. So it got moved onto the 29er (the 100mm 8 degree stem went to the spares box) and the CX commuter now wears the Salsa Cowbell 2 in the widest 46cm size...though the flare takes it out to about 52cm



Fabulous bar. Really shallow drop (126mm) and a 12 degree flare so when it is lifted as it is on the CX commuter on an 80mm 17 degree rise stem...the drop into the drop is really comfortable. And the improvement in handling and control (especially on the loose crusher dust paths) has been outstanding.

[outnabike]

[quote="The Walrus"][quote="high_tea"][quote="The Walrus"]What alternative bars could I consider apart from a flatbar?

Hi The Walrus,
I have seen lately, a few of the "loop" type bars, running around on these Randonneur type cycles, and they look interesting. They would afford two positions forward and back. They are sort of a figure 8 and have a soft coating around the whole bar.
What I like about them is if you had the ubiquities “Dooring”, your hands are not in the line of fire. The one I looked at seemed a little wider than most bars though.

Third pic from the bottom of page.
http://www.humanpowered.com.au/wp/featu ... -open-road

[il padrone]

Are you talking about trekking bars aka butterfly bars outnabike?





These have some downsides in my estimation as well, as I mentioned earlier. Better to just run straight bars with longer bar-ends, for the same hand protection effect - although I would not consider this dooring cocern a big issue when buying handlebars.

Flat bars also have the added advantage that you can shorten their length to suit your needs.

[The Walrus]

Well I've been listening to peoples thoughts and experience using drops and have been trying to get more used to it before I make any changes.

I think the more aggressive position compared to my MTB is something I'm still adjusting to but I don't feel such a lack of control so much anymore, although I'd love to try wider drops.

The hoods definitely feel better than before but the lack of access to the brakes still bothers me. So I'm thinking two (or just one?) interrupter brake lever would totally overcome that.

Are interrupter brakes like everything else? Good, bad and indifferent qualities and prices? Or will anything on ebay do?

[Magnum9]

Why can't you operate the brakes from the hoods?

[The Walrus]

Why can't you operate the brakes from the hoods?

I can but not as cleanly/effectively as I would like!