Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Best bars for climbing on ss/fixie?

I've begun saving my change for a C'dale Capo, but I'm not happy with the bars with respect to climbing. For one thing they felt too narrow. I expect all my climbs on the Capo to be of the stand and suffer kind and I am wondering, should I be on the hoods of traditional drops, looking at Midge drops or something moustachey? I climb on my offroad ss using a 28" riser bar and I love the wide position of my arms, but for the road it would be nice to have a few more positions. I am tall (6'4" or 5" depending on who I am compared to) so I am hoping with the 62 cm Capo I won't have to bend over too much on the drops if I go that route. I'd appreciate any advice.

bullhorns, bro, they're unbeatable for climbing and multiple positions.

never seen jones h-bars on a fixie, but they migt be something to think about.

bullhorns, bro, they're unbeatable for climbing and multiple positions.

Forgot about that option--can you get wide ones?

Yeah. Well, I've seen some up to 44, I b'leeve.

I've heard midges are ridiculously good for climbing. I've never ridden them before, though. So I guess I have little to contribute.

Moustache bars are pretty nice and wide, hence good for climbing..

I've heard midges are ridiculously good for climbing. I've never ridden them before, though. So I guess I have little to contribute.

I looked up the midges and they were 580mm or about 23in from bar end to bar end. The largest "regular" drop bars I found were the Nitto's from Rivendale (48cm--19in), so they are definitely wider on the drops--I wonder about the tops?

Yeah. Well, I've seen some up to 44, I b'leeve.

Supposedly the Soma bullhorns go up to 46. Moustache bars are nice for climbs but I'm not crazy about them for other things. Midges seem like a good way to go. I have some old school Specialized BB-1 dirt drop-style bars that are nice and wide in the drops but it's a much deeper drop than the Midges.

whenever i need to go up a big hill i just get down in my drops and hammer.

Thanks for the advice. I guess Midges have it for width, still that's 23" versus 28" on the MTB. If you were pedalling out of the saddle on a Midge would you hold the hoods like a conventional drop bar or the drops? I presume the arms would be much closer in than 23" on the hoods. When I climb out of the saddle using the hoods on my current road bike, I feel like there is more control than with the drops, but there is even more control with the MTB riser. Is there some climbing formula I should be knowing about here? Or is every bar just a compromise?

I don't think there's a formula. it's different for everyone.

You really haven't provided enough information...like are you climbing monster steep hills in a big gear...or chickensh1t hills in a little gear? Clipless pedals may effect your climbing technique as well. As you develop the legs and techniques for climbing with only one gear...the way you climb will change. Wide bars really aren't necessary if you are a strong climber....strong efficient climbing with one gear is more about staying in the saddle and using all of your leg muscles to apply both a powerful downstroke and upstroke. Saddle position is also an important factor as is where you actually place your butt on the saddle when you climb.When climbing a tough hill, slide back for more power and to save your knees. For a strong climber, the standing/mashing/swinging your bike back and forth method is really just a last ditch effort technique when your legs get really fatigued. Its slower and less efficient. Even when you get good at the standing mashing method, wide bars aren't really all that helpful either. Wide bars really don't translate into more leg leverage, which is where you really need it. Swinging your bike back and forth wastes energy and its wise to minimize it. Moreover, it does not magically allow you to push the pedals with less force.
My advice would be to stick with the drop bars and learn how to climb using all of the hand positions...they each work well for different aspects of climbing. Also, if you don't use clipless, switching to clipless will greatly improve your power once you develop all of your leg muscles.

Look at what the pro's use for climbing. Set your bike up like a roadie. Use traditional drop bars and hoods.

Bullhorns are great for short climbs but for long ones, they put you in a position that is too low. I use 46cm road drops with fakey brake hoods. This gives you the most hand positions and a more upright position for long climbs. For the short climbs you can still climb in the drops.

As far as bar width, this is calculated by the width of your shoulder blades (???) I believe. I am 6'5" and am one of the few people who actually need the 46cm (c-c) width. I also broke my scapula a few years back and the wide bar helps with the discomfort. But like everything else, everyone has a different opinion on this subject

Bullhorns are great for short climbs but for long ones, they put you in a position that is too low.

maybe, maybe not. i have bullhorns on my bike, a bit below my saddle but not a huge drop. the horn part is good for out of the saddle stuff, when i need to get out of the saddle up a steep hill. for longer stuff, i scoot back on my saddle a significant amount and i keep my hands on the flats. scooting back helps me spin more smoothely. climbing isn't all about where your hands are. try also different saddle positions.

I expect all my climbs on the Capo to be of the stand and suffer kind...

Bullhorns.

I climb by getting out of the saddle, putting my weight over the bullhorns, and pulling myself uphill.

I don't mash.

I pull.

Rather than mashing with my quads, I pull with my hamstrings.

By pulling myself uphill, I can engage more of my body.

Many hands make light work, and the more I can distribute the work throughout my body, the easier it gets.

I've adusted the height and angle of my bullhorns so that I can lean way forward over them and pull.

Did I mention pulling? :)

Road bars like Cinelli crit bars.

S/F,
CEYA!

I've adusted the height and angle of my bullhorns so that I can lean way forward over them and pull.


This is exactly the way I did it when I used bull horns. It is more like a sprinting positon. As far as long climbs, i do not think it is as efficient as standing more upright, on the hoods with your weight more over the BB.

for the record dropbars give you all the climbing positions bullhorns do, but with drops...

seriously look at a clmbing stage of any road race... those fuggers climb huge ***** really fast on dropbars.

that said i use risers on my fixie and they climb aight too. and since i do most of my riding offroad anyway the risers feel really natural to me on the fixie.

I like Bullhorns but its really all personal preference.
I think Profile has some really wide stoker bullhorns

for the record dropbars give you all the climbing positions bullhorns do, but with drops...

seriously look at a clmbing stage of any road race... those fuggers climb huge ***** really fast on dropbars.

that said i use risers on my fixie and they climb aight too. and since i do most of my riding offroad anyway the risers feel really natural to me on the fixie.

wondering: are you doing fixed off-road? i'd like to see pics of that set up if so...

Road bars like Cinelli crit bars.

S/F,
CEYA!
I love these. They are somehow midway between track bars (early bend forward) and road bars (shallow drop).
http://www.pbase.com/wojtek_burkot/image/71658707/large.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/wojtek_burkot/image/71658514/large.jpg

Still, I prefer bullhorns setup high for serious climbing.

wondering: are you doing fixed off-road? i'd like to see pics of that set up if so...

nope haven't gotten the bug to do that yet.

have seen quite a few people doing it though. the bikes really run the gambit from your average racy lookin singlspeed to the dirtdrop cyclocross guys riding on bikes i would be scared to ride trails on (let alone fixed).

if i were to do it i'd just put a fixed wheel on my normal singlespeed. nothin crazy (other than not being able to coast while riding logs & rocks) ;) this summer when it is nice and dry and i hit some of the smoother trails in the area i aim to give it a whirl at least once.

maybe some of you guys don't like climbing on the drops so much due to the absence of the hoods to hang on to???

maybe some of you guys don't like climbing on the drops so much due to the absence of the hoods to hang on to???

With hoodless drops, just hold on the the part of the bar that bends forward...it takes getting used to, but its similar to holding onto hoods. I hook my index finger around the front of the bar and wrap my other fingers down below the bar. I find hoodless drops to be stable and quite comfortable. Heres how I use hoodless drops..

1. Flat part -this is for the two extremes: a relaxing pace and for extreme powerstroke (using quads and hamstrings) for fast seated climbing up a hill.
2. Normal drop part (not the very bottom of the drop, but on the inside of the bend) - I use this for fast, sustained high cadence on flats, or going fast down a hill, or against big winds.
3. The very bottom of the drop at the end of the bar...basically for sprinting.
4. The part at the top that bends forward...I use this for climbing out of the saddle and when riding at a long sustained intermediate pace. I also use this part when transitioning from the flats to the drops or vice versa, like when I climb a big hill holding onto the flat part, then when I approach the peak, I'll go to the bend, which is a better position as my cadence begins to increase. Then as I start to go downhill, I will move to the drop position.

wondering: are you doing fixed off-road? i'd like to see pics of that set up if so...
Here's mine (http://flickr.com/photos/singlespeedoutlaw/40995882/in/set-899821/), not sure how great the picture is to see the setup. Kelly 29er, H-bars.

bullhorns

Again I thank all of you for some very considered responses. Mihlbach asked for more info about my ride. At present most of my riding has been offroad on a 2 to 1 rigid single speed using clipless pedals and I can't remember the last time I sat down for anything other than the bit of road that leads to my local trail and an occasional smooth part of the trail. Standing has become my suspension system as well as the only means I have of climbing the big hills on the trail. Since I began desiring the Capo, I started riding my C'dale T2000 touring bike a bit more (also with clipless pedals). Before all the single speeding I rarely got out of the saddle to climb anything, I just used my gears and with touring gears there is nothing you can't climb fully loaded. Recently though I have put it into a 2 to 1 type gear and began using it like a single speed to get the feel. I haven't paid close attention to how I have climbed exactly, but I would never call it mashing--much more rythmic than that and usually using the hoods for support. The hills around the Puget Sound are plenty and big though and when I test rode a Capo with its 17:48 gearing and hit one of the big hills just outside the LBS, I was doing all I could to make those cranks go around. I suppose that means it is too tall a gear and of course that can be changed, but the bars were uncomfortable for me and left me with a feeling of poor control when I was standing. BTW I intend to run the Capo as an SS intially and mostly for shorter training rides.

Here's mine (http://flickr.com/photos/singlespeedoutlaw/40995882/in/set-899821/), not sure how great the picture is to see the setup. Kelly 29er, H-bars.

from what i can see it looks nice. sounds sweet.

you riding it anywhere or staying on somewhat more smooth trails? i ask because i ride everything from smooth, fast singletrack to rocky and rooty singletrack in the mtns to, when the trails are wet, fs roads. some places have very little elevation gain, others are big climbing/descending days. creeks, drops, jumps, etc.

i've got an older 26" mtnbike i wouldn't mind converting. all info gathering and wishful thinking at this point.

Again I thank all of you for some very considered responses. Mihlbach asked for more info about my ride. At present most of my riding has been offroad on a 2 to 1 rigid single speed using clipless pedals and I can't remember the last time I sat down for anything other than the bit of road that leads to my local trail and an occasional smooth part of the trail.

Check your seat height and bike setup..you should be sitting down for the most part, unless is is extremely rough or you are clearing obstacles. Sustained power can only be achieved by seated pedaling..there is actually a lot of technique to this that you pick up with time.



Since I began desiring the Capo, I started riding my C'dale T2000 touring bike a bit more (also with clipless pedals). Before all the single speeding I rarely got out of the saddle to climb anything, I just used my gears and with touring gears there is nothing you can't climb fully loaded. Recently though I have put it into a 2 to 1 type gear and began using it like a single speed to get the feel. I haven't paid close attention to how I have climbed exactly, but I would never call it mashing--much more rythmic than that and usually using the hoods for support. The hills around the Puget Sound are plenty and big though and when I test rode a Capo with its 17:48 gearing and hit one of the big hills just outside the LBS, I was doing all I could to make those cranks go around. I suppose that means it is too tall a gear and of course that can be changed, but the bars were uncomfortable for me and left me with a feeling of poor control when I was standing. BTW I intend to run the Capo as an SS intially and mostly for shorter training rides.

Give the drop bars a chance...roadies use them for a reason. They don't handle the same as, say, risers, but you'll get used to them and you begin to learn how to effectively utilize the different hand positions. Also..if you keep it up with SSing, don't give in to the temptation to gear too low, because you will get stronger. I'd say 48:17 is a little high for a starter gear, especially if you have big hills. You might want to drop to 48-18, but eventually you will probably want to go back to 48/17. One gear WILL make you stronger and teach you how to pedal...promise.

you riding it anywhere or staying on somewhat more smooth trails? i ask because i ride everything from smooth, fast singletrack to rocky and rooty singletrack in the mtns to, when the trails are wet, fs roads. some places have very little elevation gain, others are big climbing/descending days. creeks, drops, jumps, etc. That photo was taken at the 24 Hours of Seven Springs. Most of the course was extremely rocky (western PA/Appalacian Mtns.) with plenty of climbing. If I recall, that fire road the picture was taken on was pretty much the only dirt road type of riding on the course.

Most of what I ride is either rocky or rocky/rooty singletrack and I ride pretty much like you describe above. Long downhills are tougher than technical stuff in my opinion and jumping is a blast, just remember to pedal in the air!

That photo was taken at the 24 Hours of Seven Springs. Most of the course was extremely rocky (western PA/Appalacian Mtns.) with plenty of climbing. If I recall, that fire road the picture was taken on was pretty much the only dirt road type of riding on the course.

Most of what I ride is either rocky or rocky/rooty singletrack and I ride pretty much like you describe above. Long downhills are tougher than technical stuff in my opinion and jumping is a blast, just remember to pedal in the air!

very cool. bike lust, the never-ending feeling...

Forgot about that option--can you get wide ones?

Profile Design makes their Stoker bullhorn in a 47 cm. It's a zero drop and has the same size diameter throughout the entire bar so clamping on add-ons can be done any place on the bar.

To the OP, keep in mind that the geometry on a road bike is quite a bit different than a MTB. The shorter stays and steeper st angle will already put you over the pedals more than a MTB will, so comparing the 2 styles isn't really fair. Plus, road bikes make up for the lack of bar width by putting the grip further out over the front axle. I like wide bars, but anything wider than 46cm on a road bike seems excessive to me.

I like my WTB dirt drops for climbing. Similar to the Midge, but (I think) with more drop, longer ends and a shorter top.
Mine have hoods, and the bars are 2cm higher than the saddle. I like climbing in the drops, even out of the saddle. I'm trying to do more seated climbing (scoot back and really work the big muscles), and I seem to go faster with less sweat and shallower breaths that way.

WTB has reissued these as "Mountain Road" bars. They don't have a matching riser stem, but Dimension makes one that'll work with them.

Philip

Most bars around here won't let me ride my bike inside, nevermind climb anything.

bullhorns or moustache bars with their wide position excellent for climbing

Check your seat height and bike setup..you should be sitting down for the most part, unless is is extremely rough or you are clearing obstacles. Sustained power can only be achieved by seated pedaling..there is actually a lot of technique to this that you pick up with time.




Give the drop bars a chance...roadies use them for a reason. They don't handle the same as, say, risers, but you'll get used to them and you begin to learn how to effectively utilize the different hand positions. Also..if you keep it up with SSing, don't give in to the temptation to gear too low, because you will get stronger. I'd say 48:17 is a little high for a starter gear, especially if you have big hills. You might want to drop to 48-18, but eventually you will probably want to go back to 48/17. One gear WILL make you stronger and teach you how to pedal...promise.

I appreciate your posts and I have been trying out some seated climbs since your last post and I can go further than I thought (on the road-the trail is pretty rough). Fortunately I still have some time to build up to the 48/17 while I save up for the overpriced Capo. I am certainly not against drop bars--though I have an issue with them on my touring bike. Within 15-30 min. of riding, I start getting intense pain in my right triceps (or somewhere in there) and for the rest of the ride, I am trying to fool around with my hand position to make it go away. So actually I use many hand positions, because I can't stay in one for long. Curiously, I have never felt this on my MTB. My road bars are large, deep drop and I have a significant rise on the quill stem. This is one reason I was considering a radically different drop bar like the midge. When you say I should stick with drops, do you include the midge? Or are you thinking along the lines of the Cinelli Crit posted earlier?

me lyky bulls cuz of positions. i say tho risers are also good for climbing to. i went from drops to bullhorns to riser back to bulls. the bulls i have really feel nice now that im back but risers are also something to consider if you don't mind a lil numbing of the hands. risers are awesome for steering and control and leverage but on the long hauls they show their flaw. these are some of my transformations
32730

32731

32733
this is the one i have now and i dont think i wanna go back to anything now

I really love drops on my roadies...I had been a mad fan of narrow ones, but getting into newer bikes I got really used to the wide bars and the additional ballance/leverage they provide. Since I first build up my fixie with narrow drops (old school ones, where the bottoms are wider than the top bar), but have since switched to 420mm bullhorns because of the added width, and am now totally hooked. It's not just the width, it's the length...there's just more room to grab onto, a good inch or more than I had on my drops, plus those nifty upswing-parts at the end. Probably also comes from hanging onto ultegra/105 STIs for the last while, old-school hoods just aren't all that comfortable.

The one suggestion I might have would be a straight bar or risers with bar-ends. Easiest way I've seen to create wider bullhorns than you'll find elsewhere. There's lots out there that'll set you up in whatever setup you want, might even want 2 pairs, an inner one and an outer one. I rode a 52-17 SS all summer in Vancouver (hilly as frack) and would have died without the bar-ends I scavanged from an abandoned bike.

I appreciate your posts and I have been trying out some seated climbs since your last post and I can go further than I thought (on the road-the trail is pretty rough). Fortunately I still have some time to build up to the 48/17 while I save up for the overpriced Capo. I am certainly not against drop bars--though I have an issue with them on my touring bike. Within 15-30 min. of riding, I start getting intense pain in my right triceps (or somewhere in there) and for the rest of the ride, I am trying to fool around with my hand position to make it go away. So actually I use many hand positions, because I can't stay in one for long. Curiously, I have never felt this on my MTB. My road bars are large, deep drop and I have a significant rise on the quill stem. This is one reason I was considering a radically different drop bar like the midge. When you say I should stick with drops, do you include the midge? Or are you thinking along the lines of the Cinelli Crit posted earlier?

drop bars simply offer the most hand positions...so in that respect I think they are the best bars to have on there, at last for road riding and relatively smooth offroad situtations. If you are developing arm pain, I suspect you need to consider the setup of your whole bike. Moving to a non-drop bar with less hand options doesn't seem likely to solve your problem. How about experiment with bar height and stem length. As to what style of drops you have?...frankly thats a matter of personal taste and comfort. On the road, I prefer a bar thats 42-44 cm wide with a fairly shallow drop. With deep drops, its too hard to use the drop position effectively. As far as bar width goes...a lot of people think that having a wide bar helps you climb by giving you more leverage. It does give your arm more leverate to swing the bike back and forth...but thats inneficient and doesn't really translate into giving you legs more leverage, although it may make the bike easier to handle when standing. At any rate, with seated climbing, I don't think bar width matters as much because you tend to pull back on the bar, not side to side.

I appreciate your posts and I have been trying out some seated climbs since your last post and I can go further than I thought (on the road-the trail is pretty rough). Fortunately I still have some time to build up to the 48/17 while I save up for the overpriced Capo. I am certainly not against drop bars--though I have an issue with them on my touring bike. Within 15-30 min. of riding, I start getting intense pain in my right triceps (or somewhere in there) and for the rest of the ride, I am trying to fool around with my hand position to make it go away. So actually I use many hand positions, because I can't stay in one for long. Curiously, I have never felt this on my MTB. My road bars are large, deep drop and I have a significant rise on the quill stem. This is one reason I was considering a radically different drop bar like the midge. When you say I should stick with drops, do you include the midge? Or are you thinking along the lines of the Cinelli Crit posted earlier?


Very useful analysis. I believe I will stick with the drops, though I haven't decided whether to go with standard width or midge type width. Either way I think the shallower drops may be better for my purposes. Hopefully I can figure out the arm pain thing. It is very strange as it has only occurred in the last few years (I have had the bike for about 12 years now) and it is only on the right side so it may be due to some specific connective tissue nerve adhesion thing--though I don't recall an injury that would have precipitated it. It least with the threadless steerer on the Capo, it will be easier to experiment with bar height. Maybe I will even get an adjustable stem for awhile to get things dialed. Again thanks for your informative posts.