Touring - Bars Conundrum

I hate whatever drops are on my CrossCheck. The guy I bought it from built it from the frame as roadie bike, so I am slowly swapping out stuff for commuting/touring/LD. I have on my list of possible bars:

Midge Bar
Nitto Randonneur
Salsa Bell Lap
Nitto Noodle

Thoughts? The dops I have now kill me. too deep. Plus, I want wider tops. I use bar ends.

are you steadfast on road levers?

if you use MTB stuff, you can use something like an H-Bar
or an inverted On-One Mary bar

I hate whatever drops are on my CrossCheck. The guy I bought it from built it from the frame as roadie bike, so I am slowly swapping out stuff for commuting/touring/LD. I have on my list of possible bars:

Midge Bar
Nitto Randonneur
Salsa Bell Lap
Nitto Noodle

Thoughts? The dops I have now kill me. too deep. Plus, I want wider tops. I use bar ends.

I have the Salsa Bell Laps on my commuting bike and on my touring bike. I much prefer them to just about any other bar I've tired. Nice natural bend at the top curve and the drops flare out a little. Not too expensive either. I don't know that the drops are that shallow but Salsa (http://www.salsacycles.com/handlebars_road.html) makes a shallow drop bar and other bars that may interest you.

I like my wtb dirtdrop's. My son likes my old H bars...just not for me.

I have the Nitto Noodle bars on my touring bike and the Bell Laps on my cross bike. I don't think you could really go wrong with either of those. I don't have any experience with the other two.

Drops don't have to be super shallow or even flared, just looking for more hand positions, wider bar, and comfortable for a non-roadie racer. I was mainly looking at drops vs MTB bars because of hand positions on longer rides.

I used to hate drop bars until I realized that wider ones give plenty of standing-sprint stiffness (all drops less than 42mm flex too much for me). I use just a standard drop bar in the 46mm size and it feels great!

I am not a big guy either, I just use my upper body more when riding than most folks I guess.

Riv was selling the original Dirt drops, a few months back. I bought a set, though they recommended the noodles if you didn't have a retro fixation. I have some Midge bars, and every photo I saw made them look like drops, but they are a relatively flat moustache, which I didn't want.

Within the last six months I have switched out the drops on all three of my rode bikes. I currently am using a FSA Omega Compact on my Trek 520. Great drop that can be had for around $30 shipped new. Stiff and comfy, but a little heavy. Waaay better than the Bonty ergo Select drop that was stock. My most recent purchase is a 3T Ergonova Pro for my main road bike. This is my fav. I just recently converted my 93 Trek 1200 to eight speed and put on the Deda Newton Shallow I originally had put on the 520. The Deda is a very nice light bar, but harder to position that the other two.

FSA compact with short drop would make a nice touring bar or at least that is on my wish list at the moment. I like a swooping drop over all the ergo stuff.

The Noodles are a good bar, but I've grown partial to "shallow drop" bars. There are a number of options available, mostly in 31.8.

the midge bars aren't terribly wide across the top, i don't believe.

i have a set of bell laps...44s i think in a 31.8 i'm not using.

I really like the Nitto Randonneur with bar end shifters. The shallow drop and flared ends make it very comfortable to ride holding the drop portion near the shifters.

My thoughts... if you want wide tops don't go with the midge, the randonneur or something like the WTB road mountain drop (wider than midge) I tried the WTB and with 46cm shoulders I was awfully uncomfortable on the tops.

I like the nitto noodle... relatively short, lots of width options and nice flat usable drops. FYI they do flare a bit so a 44 is 43 at the hoods and about 45 at the ends... and a 46 is 45 at the hoods and 47ish at the ends... etc... they are a wonderful bar...

I will also vouch for something like the FSA Omega compact, it would make a great touring bar... I have 3ttt ergo novas on my cross bike and FSA ergo sums on my road bike and they are great... very short reach and very shallow and flat drop which you can actually ride in. The problem with ergo bar is they are designed for pros who are hammering low with big elbow bends that are not feasible on a touring bike. I would use the FSA or 3ttt compact bars on the touring bike but would want something wider... currently I have my 46cm noodles on my light touring bike, but am leaning towards picking up another set for the loaded tourer.

Flared drops make riding in the drops more comfortable for me. I have the original nitto dirt drop bars and find them very comfy. I also have the Nitto Noodle in the widest they make. I like riding on the tops with the nitto. The wide top also makes riding on the hoods more comfy. You can breathe a little easier with the increased with. You compromise wind drag but if your loaded touring your going to be slower anyways.

I'd recommend trying the Nitto size 48...It's a very noticeable difference than 44's.

You can breathe a little easier with the increased with.

FWIW, that's one of those specious internet fallacies that gets repeated. Common sense is that if there is any measurable benefit of greater width, it would be the width between elbows and not the hands. ;)

Don't underestimate drop bars that are simply well-sized and positioned. I replaced the stock drops on my touring bike with properly sized ones, and I finally found a height I like. (Now to find a decent stem!)

How do you have barends on drop bars? (Or do you mean barend shifters?) I'm having a tough time picturing that.

Can we see a picture of your current setup?

I used to hate drop bars until I realized that wider ones give plenty of standing-sprint stiffness (all drops less than 42mm flex too much for me). I use just a standard drop bar in the 46mm size and it feels great!

I am not a big guy either, I just use my upper body more when riding than most folks I guess.

That's exactly backwards. A wider bar will give more leverage, yes, but it will flex more than a narrower one, not less, because of that leverage.

In my experience, though it's been a few years since I went touring, bar width is way overrated in terms of bicycle control. Getting the width right is much more a matter of comfort. Of course, I have narrow shoulders. 38 cm is too narrow for me, 42 cm too wide for a long ride (like a tour). 40 cm seems to be the sweet spot for me. You know it when you find it.

For what it's worth, I had a randonneur bar (actually a Sakae "Randnneur" :lol:) and hated it. It turned my wrists in when riding on the tops and didn't take long to start hurting. But other people love 'em. There's no accounting for taste.

there are a lot of bar options out there

this is an On-One Mary Bar, mounted inverted

i also use H-Bars

and i have a road bike with drops, etc...

what I've found with wrist angles is that you don't necessarily have to have that position like when riding on the hoods of a drop bar, which is the same angle you achieve when on bar ends with a mtb flat bar.

for instance, with the inverted mary bar, the wrist angle is enough to ride all day

in fact
i rode this bike Portland to ventura
and when i got to Arcata, I did the 12 hours of Humboldt MTB race, with 12 laps 91 miles and over 16,000 ft of climbing, 3rd place, on a set of CX tyres... then continued down the coast.

you'd be amazed at all the different bars that are out there.

personally, when it comes to a bar, i like to pick something that i utilize as much of the bar as possible
and the primary position, has to achieve 100% control/access to all the functions, at the same time

>That's exactly backwards. A wider bar will give more leverage, yes, but it will flex more than a narrower one, not less, because of that leverage.

I think Gene2308 is talking about diameters (42 millimetres vs 46 millimetres), you're talking width (46 centimetres...)

Deeper, more traditional drops give you more room for your hands when in the hooks. Personally, I find this more comfortable in the long run than shallow drops, even though I have relatively small hands.

They don't have to be so deep if you can set the handlebars higher, closer to saddle level. Other than that, there can be many other fitting issues that affect how a person feels using drop bars. Just changing bars might not necessarily address these.

>That's exactly backwards. A wider bar will give more leverage, yes, but it will flex more than a narrower one, not less, because of that leverage.

I think Gene2308 is talking about diameters (42 millimetres vs 46 millimetres), you're talking width (46 centimetres...)

i'm pretty sure bicycle handlebars are not in the 40mm diameter range
25.4, 26.8, 31.8, etc...

Check out this website I found a while back: http://ruedatropical.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/road-drop-bar-geometry/

There's a flash thing on there that lets you click on a whole bunch of bars to look at the profiles of them.

I have noodles on my bike, because I ride on the hoods mostly and wanted the flat ramps, but I also ride on the tops and the little bend there brings the bars a little closer, and keeps your hands at a nice angle.

Can you take a look and let us know which bars you do have?

More opinion:
I was pretty excited to try the Midge Bars. Installed, taped and removed in a day. Didn't like them at all and as stated above, narrow.

I test road a Fargo a few weeks ago and fell in love w/ the Salsa Bell Laps. Very comfy but the drops are not shallow if that's where you spend a lot of time but who does when you are touring unless you are going into a headwind. When you are on the hoods, the flare just feels natural.

Discontinued but I have still been able to find, Bontrager Flat Tops. That was the bar of choice at a local shop in Spokane. It has a very user friendly drop position.

Nitto Noddles are about the widest bar out there at 48cm center to center (if this size is still being made). Speaking of C to C, if you want a wide bar, make sure that's how it's being measured.

I think they are Bontrager. I'll take a pic tomorrow.

The inverted mary bars looked cool, but what about multi-hand positions?

I think they are Bontrager. I'll take a pic tomorrow.

The inverted mary bars looked cool, but what about multi-hand positions?
it has multi position, center and the ends
its about the wrist angle
and being able to change your body's posture
i.e. elbow break to knee ratio, and being able to stand with a straight back.

that bike is custom made to my body and riding style, so its kind of "out of range" in exacting conversation

the point being, its about wrist angle, and being able to change how you hold your back.

H-Bars are really good for this.
i have two bikes set up with them, and I've ridden each bike at least 20,000 miles.

Here is a pic of the bars that I have on now:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/albinoazian/IMG_0814.jpg

and just because I just brought it home, my new El Mariachi:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/albinoazian/IMG_0811.jpg

It's hard to tell, but from the first photo it looks like the bars have very little room on the hoods. Maybe bars that are a touch deeper might work?