smoke

I got this type of handlebar back when they were all the rage. didn't really have any problems with the bars i currently had, but i thought the ergo bend made sense. after years of fooling with 'em, constantly rotating the bars forwards and backwards, and never seeming to find the perfect position, i'm thinking of going back to the older style continuous curve bars. has anybody else given up on these bars and gone back to what we used to ride many moons ago?

steve

rufvelo

Never bothered with 'anatomic' or 'ergo' whatever. I've always used wide, deep drop round bars for...

...yes comfort

Serpico

I use the continous curve bars also, don't like "ergo/anatomic" bars

ergo/anatomic bars never caught on with professional racers, take a look at any pro cyclist's rig (including that guy who won the tdf a bunch)

plus the continous curve bars have unlimited hand positions

ohh--and ergo bars are ugly as hell too


I have the deda newton "belgian drop" bars

bjkeen

I like the curved drop bars much better than ergo ones. I have the ergo ones on my new cannondale; my commuter's got a Nitto Noodle on it now. Now, I don't like the curved ones so much better that I've ripped the ergo ones off, but when it's time that's what's going to happen.

dekalbSTEEL

I love my ergo bend bontrager raceXlites! They're the most kick a$$ handlebars I've ever riden!

botto 

never liked the looks of them, but never used them - until today. they were more comfortable than i thought, but they're still butt-ugly

spunky

Yep.....I'm in agreement. My Orbea came with ergo bars and I rode them for a few hundred miles before switching them to a traditional bend bar. Never could find a comfortable position in the drops where I felt like I had easy access to the shifters/brakes. Must have something to do with hand size....I have small hands.

SteveE

Not all ergo bars are created equal. Some are OK while other are uncomfortable. I don't like the Ritchey ergos that are on my commute bike but I do like the Deda 215's on my road bike. The ones that have just a flat section seem to work fine while the ones that have a "bump" are not very comfortable and are ugly-looking as well.

khuon

My palms seem to prefer flat sections. If I grip around a bend or curve, they tend to cramp up. I like the straight section of the transition from the tops to the hoods and the straight ergos in the drops of my EC90 for this reason. I agree that the ergo bars with the "bump" in the drops would give my hand fits.

smoke

i just can't seem to find a place where i'm comfortable no matter how low i ride. i spend most of my time in the drops, but i'll change how low i'm getting and how much bend i have in the elbows. when the bars are set well, and i change positions, it always results in wrist pain. i'm thinking of going to the deda newton's as well, but i think i'd prefer the smaller italian size to the belgian ones

pdxtex

how often are you guys in the drops anyway?!! i love my ergo bars (salsa motoace). it sits me up a bit higher when in the drops and the feel way more comfy then traditional drop bars. plus my hand can get closer to the brakes.

cydewaze

Me too. Traditional bars tend to put pressure on the bottom edges of my palms. Maybe I'm not trying a deep enough drop, but the anatomical bends have never bothered me, so I stuck with them.

dgaddes

Ergos seem the best for me. Just took a while to get everything dialed-in right. Now my hands fall right to the ideal spot in the drops and I'm able to easily shift/brake from there. Also very comfy on the hoods. Using Bonty X-lite carbon.

Retro Grouch 

I used to do industrial ergonomics for a large workers comp insurance carrier. The thing to remember about "ergo" anything is that it's super if it happens to line up with your normal arm and wrist position. If it doesn't, then it isn't ergo for you. It doesn't matter what 90% of other people think, no matter who or how smart they are, if it doesn't happen to be right for you.

daytonian

ergo's for me and I'm in drops alot.

531Aussie

I didn't like the few ergos I tried, and it was tough to find traditional bars down here a couple of years ago.

It's kinda interesting the guys who REALLY use the drops, the sprinters, often prefer traditional bars:

Cipo: https://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?...a04/SPB85F6507
Petacchi: https://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?...Petacchi_bike2
McEwen: https://www.as.com/diarioasmedia/diar...as_3_I_LCO.jpg
Zabel: https://www.dailypeloton.com/article_...ge12/zabel.jpg

iamtim

I have regular bend bars on my fixie and ergo bars on my roadie. Very soon I'll be picking up a set of ergo bars for the fixie -- I really like having that flat portion to grab onto in the drops, I hate the feel of the curve in my hand on the regular bars.

And yes, I rode regular bars BITD. I just prefer the ergo bars. But then again, I prefer Biopace chainrings. So take my input with a grain of salt.

operator

If you're talking about Lance Armstrong, he used ergo bars. I find it comical that people are trashing the aesthetic look of ergo bars when they ride compact frames with every sq mm of their bike plastered with sponsor decals for which they actually paid for.

goldbam

Alot of you don't like the look of the ergo's, personally, I think they make the bike look more simmetrical. Kind of like comparing a honda civic with a rounded look to the look of a Chrysler 300 with it's boxed edges. But I also love the feel of the ergo's, my hands don't cramp up as much, my hands wouldn't last 30 minutes with the traditional bend bars.

rjtokyo

I have 2 different ergo bars and 1 traditional bend bar and I like the traditional bend (3TTT TdF) bar the best. Ergo bars come in so many different bends, angles, drops, etc., and like Retro Grouch was saying, if the "ergo" doesn't happen to match your preferred riding position, it's worse than non-ergo.

Cheers! - RJ

bjkeen

I should amend that the thing I feel especially annoyed with about ergo bars is that the dropped part isn't usually long enough. I'm weird perhaps in that I like to ride a lot with my arms almost straight and with my hands on the flat uncurved section right at the ends of the bar - it's more comfy for me than riding on the hoods, even. Traditional bars have that part long enough. I like the continuous choice of armbend-grip position that traditional bars provide too, when I want to get down lower.

linus

What's wrong with compact?.....Please do not reserve YOUR opinion like others.

55/Rad

2 words - Modolo Curvissima

Best of both worlds.

Serpico

He used to use Deda 215 with the "Italian drops" (bottom picture), he now uses Bonty VR bars, which have a slightly different bend than the Dedas, but they are not "ergo" bars.

fwiw, google image search turned up a few pics of him in Postal gear with ergo bars, so he apparently tried them at one period. But here are pics from the beginning, and end, of his career with Postal/then/Discovery. I doubt he was using "ergo" bars during his Motorola days.














The red Bonty logo is clear around his stem in the first two pics above--these are the two shapes they offer in their high-end bars.






I have no idea what you're talking about--I have less decals on my bike than probably anyone here (and I've posted several threads on another forum asking how to remove decals from components/bikes)--nor do I have a "compact frame".

regards

FormerBMX'er

Just got some Salsa Poco bars, short reach, short drop.



so far so good.