Commuting - handlebar dilemma...Bell Lap or Noodle or Biomax

So I have a Cross-Check complete with the Bell Lap bars. I use it to commute. I have always felt a little uncomfortable on the hoods, but love the hoods on my RS (biomax bars). Would the Ritchey Biomax bars work out ok with barcons? I want a short reach shallow drop bar the is fairly wide and a flared drop would be nice too. Should I try the Noodle's? (Midge is another possibility I suppose)

I just rotated the bars up some and it helped a little (looks a little goofy though).

The ideal bars would be almost flat transition to hoods (level), almost square corners (not so curvy), and as mentioned above, short reach and shallow drop. I don't use the drops though currently.

So I have a Cross-Check complete with the Bell Lap bars. I use it to commute. I have always felt a little uncomfortable on the hoods, but love the hoods on my RS (biomax bars). Would the Ritchey Biomax bars work out ok with barcons? I want a short reach shallow drop bar the is fairly wide and a flared drop would be nice too. Should I try the Noodle's? (Midge is another possibility I suppose)


You described a Midge.

Have you considered a shorter stem?

I have the nitto noodle on one bike and the ritchey biomax on another. The tops of the bars are very similar. hoods are in roughly the same place. perhaps a tad closer together on the nittos. I have a hard time reaching my campy brifter levers from the drops with biomax and other ergo type bars. No problem with the noodles. The noodles don't have cable grooves so pay attention where you run the cables when you wrap your bars.

The biomax feels better to me when I'm in the drops than the noodle. And I can reach the levers of the shimano group brifters from the drops.

The midge flares out very dramatically. Kinda like a cross between a moustache and a drop bar. I suspect it will change the feel of ridding on the hoods because the hoods will be angled so much. Whereas the noodle is undoubtedly a drop bar only with a little bit of a flare out. The hoods are angled only a little on the noodle.

FWIW

Have you considered a shorter stem?

Yeah. I had a 100mm stem with a lot of rise for a while and went back to the 120mm stem. It feels better. I kept trying to scoot back on the saddle.

I'm a big fan of the BioMax II bars. Have them on 2 bikes. They seem to have a nice flat transition to the brifters, unlike most bars. How you place them is your preference. I'm sure most would say mine are wrong, but they work fine. I hate how big standard bars look on a bike. Way too big. Fugly.

i would highly recommend the nitto randonneurs....i was looking for similar bars and tried a midge knock off (the origin-8 Gary bar), but found them way too wide for city riding....it was pretty ridiculous...the nittos are great because they have a flat top and they remain flat for a bit before they curve..the drop is shallow and the drops flare out so when you're climbing your forearms aren't banging against the top of the bar...they can be had for $28 too...so it's a steal...

-russ
http://russroca.blogspot.com

I have the BioMax bars and like them a lot. The tops are almost
level on my bike, just a hint of drop. If there is anything better,
I'd like to know about it.

Midge FTW

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/5320/img04849ld.jpg

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2006/oct/FixedGearRider-1.jpg

It sort of looks uncomfortable griping the hoods at an angle like that. I tried just tilting my bike to replicate it and it put a lot of presure between the thumb and forefinger, as opposed to spreading some of the presure onto the palm. I might try them, but not sure yet. Still mulling it over.

Will the Midge fit a road bike stem?

looks like a no. 25.4 not 26